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I 


The  MARTIN  ROWAN  CHAFFIN 
Collection  of  Public  School 
Text-Books 

PRESENTED  TO 

Trinity  College  Library 


By  his  grandchildren  in  honor  of  M. 
R.  Chaffin,  who  taught  public  school 
in  Davie  and  Yadkin  counties  for  a 
number  of  years  beginning  in  1850,  and 
in  honor  of  his  father,  ^^illiam  Owen 
Chaffinf  who  first  taught  a  North 
Carolina  public  school  in  1843,  in 
Yadkin  county. 

For  the  eshecial  use  of  the  Department  of 
Education  and  of  the  Durham  cownty  and 
city 


DAT 


A 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


BY 

ALLEN  C.  JTHOMAS,  A.M. 

PROFESSOR  OF  HISTORY  IN  HAVERFORD  COLLEGE,  PENNSYLVANIA 
AUTHOR  OF  “AN  ELEMENTARY  HISTORY  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES,”  “A  HISTORY  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES,”  ETC. 


J'  ? O  Z 

D.  C.  HEATH  &  CO.,  PUBLISHERS 

BOSTON  NEW  YORK  CHICAGO 


Copyright,  1913, 

By  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co. 


PREFACE 


The  aim  of  this  book  is  to  give  the  main  facts  of  English  his¬ 
tory,  from  the  earliest  times  to  the  present,  in  a  simple  and 
clear  manner.  The  political,  social,  and  economic  development 
of  the  people  is  dwelt  upon,  and  while  the  causes  and  results  of 
wars  receive  adequate  attention,  the  details  of  the  wars  them¬ 
selves  are  placed  in  the  background.  In  the  choice  of  inci¬ 
dents,  grouping  of  events,  and  the  proportion  in  treatment,  the 
suggestions  of  the  various  Committees  on  the  Teaching  of  His¬ 
tory  have  been  borne  in  mind. 

The  book  has  been  written  for  American  schools,  and  though 
space  has  been  lacking  to  dwell  with  fullness  on  the  connection 
between  the  histories  of  England  and  America,  all  will  recognize 
how  the  early  settlers  brought  with  them  to  America  the  princi¬ 
ples  of  liberty  and  independence  which  had  been  gained  by 
their  fathers.  The  student  will  also  recognize  how  the  holding 
of  these  principles  made  the  American  struggle  of  the  eighteenth 
century  inevitable. 

In  order  to  show  more  clearly  the  connection  of  events  in 
England  with  those  on  the  Continent,  several  chapters  on  conti¬ 
nental  history  have  been  inserted  in  the  Appendix.  These  can 
be  studied  or  omitted  as  the  teacher  may  think  advisable,  or 
they  may  be  used  for  reference.  It  has  not  been  thought  need¬ 
ful  to  carry  the  continental  history  later  than  the  close  of  the 
Thirty  Years’  War. 

Special  chapters  on  the  social  and  economic  life  of  the  English 
people  are  given  from  time  to  time  in  the  belief  that,  on  the 
whole,  such  a  method  is  the  most  satisfactory  way  of  bringing 


m 


IV 


PREFACE 


these  important  features  of  a  country’s  history  clearly  before  the 
student’s  mind. 

So  many  excellent  books  of  bibliography  have  been  published 
during  the  past  few  years  that  it  has  not  seemed  necessary  to 
name  more  than  a  few  volumes  easily  accessible.  At  the  end  of 
each  chapter  references  are  made  to  a  few  somewhat  more  ad¬ 
vanced  histories  of  England,  or  of  special  periods,  suggesting 
collateral  readings,  also  to  three  or  four  Source-Books  for  illus¬ 
trative  material. 

A  large  number  of  maps  and  genealogical  tables  have  been 
supplied,  which,  it  is  believed,  will  be  found  useful.  For  the 
sake  of  shortening  the  text,  some  explanatory  and  supplementary 
matter  has  been  given  in  the  form  of  notes.  Many  dates  are 
given  in  the  text  in  parentheses,  not  for  the  purpose  of  memo¬ 
rizing,  but  for  reference  and  to  make  the  succession  of  events 
clearer.  Numerous  cross  references  are  also  given. 


Haverkord,  Pennsylvania, 
May  3,  1913. 


ALLEN  C.  THOMAS. 


CONTENTS 


Chapter  Page 

I.  Prehistoric  and  Early  Britain . 1 

II.  Teutonic  Conquest . 12 

III.  Danish  Invasions  and  West  Saxon  Supremacy  .  .  24 

IV.  Alfred’s  Successors.  Danish  Conquest.  Norman 

Conquest . 33 

V.  England  at  the  Time  of  the  Norman  Conquest  .  43 

VI.  Norman  and  Angevin  Kings;  William  I  —  Henry  II. 

1066-1189  53 

VII.  Norman  and  Angevin  Kings;  Richard  I  —  John  .  81 

VIII.  Norman  Britain.  1066-1216  .  93 

IX.  Rise  of  the  English  Nation  and  Growth  of  Par¬ 
liament  . 104 

X.  Rise  of  the  English  Nation  and  Growth  of  Par¬ 
liament  (Continued)  .  .  • . 114 

XI.  Beginning  of  the  Period  of  the  Hundred  Years’ 

War  and  Close  of  the  Middle  Ages  .  .  .  133 

XII.  Period  of  the  Hundred  Years’  War  (Continued) ; 

Social  and  Economic  Changes  in  England  .  .  144 

XIII.  Hundred  Years’  War  (Concluded)-,  Wars  of  the  Roses  163 

XIV.  The  Beginning  of  Modern  England;  The  Tudors  .  187 

XV.  The  Tudors  (Continued)  .......  202 

XVI.  Edward  VI  and  Mary . _.  .  Ill 

XVII.  England  in  the  Fifteenth  and  Sixteenth  Centuries  243 

XVIII.  The  Reign  of  Elizabeth . 252 

XIX.  Struggle  against  Personal  Rule . 288 

XX.  The  Puritan  Revolution  and  the  Commonwealth  .  321 
XXL  The  Restoration  and  the  Revolution  of  1688  .  .  353 

XXII.  England  at  the  Close  of  the  Seventeenth  Century  380 


V 


vi  CONTENTS 

Chapter  Page 

XXIII.  Growth  of  Parliament  and  Party  Government  .  389 

XXIV.  Growth  of  Parliament  and  Party  Government 

( Continued) . 426 

XXV.  Economic  and  Social  Development  in  Eighteenth 

Century . 450 

XXVI.  Efforts  for  Reform  ;  French  Revolution  ;  Napo¬ 
leonic  Wars . 457 

XXVII.  Era  of  Reform . 475 

XXVIII.  Era  of  Reform  and  Growth  of  Colonial  Empire  488 
XXIX.  Latest  Years . 533 

APPENDIX  I.  Brief  History  of  Continental  Europe  .  547 
APPENDIX  II.  Lists  of  Books  for  Supplementary  Work.  626 
APPENDIX  III.  Important  Dates  in  English  History  .  628 
INDEX . 637 


LIST  OF  MAPS 


■  Page 

County  Map  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  .  .  .  Cover  page  2 

British  Empire,  1912  .......  Cover  page  3 

Physical  Map  of  British  Isles  ......  Pacing  4 

Roman  Britain,  showing  Chief  Roman  Roads  .....  9 

Teutonic  Britain . 15 

Alfred’s  England  . . 27 

Cnut’s  Empire  . . 36 

Dominions  of  William  the  Conqueror . 55 

Dominions  of  the  House  of  Anjou . 67 

Scotland  in  the  Thirteenth  Century  .......  127 

English  Possessions  in  France  after  the  Treaty  of  Bretigny,  1360  .  145 

The  City  of  London  in  the  Fourteenth  Century  ....  153 

English  Monasteries  dissolved  by  Henry  VIII  .....  211 

Ireland  in  the  Sixteenth  Century  .......  219 

Western  Europe  in  the  Time  of  Elizabeth  ....  Facing  276 

England  and  Wales.  The  Civil  Wars  of  the  Seventeenth  Century  .  323 
India  in  the  Time  of  Clive  .........  435 

England,  France,  and  Spain  in  North  America  before  and  after  the 

Treaty  of  1763  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  Facing  438 

Europe  at  the  Height  of  Napoleon’s  Power  .....  471 

GENEALOGICAL  TABLES 

Anglo-Saxon  Kings . 32 

Norman  Dukes  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .38 

Norman  and  Angevin  Kings  to  Edward  I  .  .  .  .  .  .52 

Norman  and  Angevin  Kings  from  Edward  I  .  .  .  .  .113 

Table  of  Scottish  Kings  to  Robert  I  . . 121 

Scottish  Kings  from  Robert  I  .......  .  135 

French  Kings,  showing  Claim  of  Edward  III  .....  138 

Descendants  of  Edward  III,  showing  Claims  of  Lancaster  and  York  160 
The  Tudors  ...........  186 

The  Stuarts  . . 287 

The  Spanish  Succession  . . 403 

The  House  of  Hanover  or  Brunswick . 416 

Descendants  of  Victoria  .  532 

vji 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


CHAPTER  I 

PREHISTORIC  AND  EARLY  BRITAIN 

1.  The  British  Isles. — The  British  Islands  offer  unusual  oppor¬ 
tunity  for  the  development  of  an  independent  people,  for,  though 
they  are  near  enough  to  the  mainland  to  make  intercourse  easy, 
they  are  sufficiently  far  away  .to  make  an  attack  by  a  large  army 
difficult.  The  climate  is  moist,  but  free  from  the  extremes  of  heat 
and  cold  ;  and,  though  the  islands  are  in  the  latitude  of  Labrador, 
the  average  temperature,  owing  to  the  prevailing  southwest  winds 
and  warm  ocean  currents  from  the  southwest,  is  about  the  tem¬ 
perature  of  Virginia.  There  are  many  islands  in  the  group,  but 
only  two.  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  are  of  large  area.^ 

The  central  and  southern  portions  of  England  are  comparatively 
level  and  fertile,  while  the  northern  portions  and  the  greater  part 
of  Scotland  and  Wales  are  hilly  or  mountainous.  The  climate  of 
Ireland  is  more  moist  than  that  of  Great  Britain,  and  the  land  is 
better  adapted  to  grazing  than  to  agriculture.  The  great  extent  of 
the  coast  line  of  Great  Britain  and  the  many  good  harbors  offer 
unusual  facilities  for  commerce.  Great  Britain  is  rich  in  mineral 
wealth :  its  mines  of  tin,  copper,  iron,  and  lead  have  been 
worked  from  very  early  times,  and  its  beds  of  coal  are  among 
the  richest  in  the  world.^ 

1  The  area  of  Great  Britain  is  88,729  square  miles,  and  of  Ireland,  32,360  square 
miles.  England  and  Wales  together  are  almost  exactly  equal  to  the  area  of  the 
state  of  Michigan;  Scotland  is  nearly  equal  to  South  Carolina;  and  Ireland  is 
about  the  size  of  Maine. 

2  The  northern  part  of  Scotland  and  the  whole  of  Ireland  are  deficient  in  min¬ 
erals  as  compared  with  England. 


I 


2 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


2.  Early  Inhabitants.  —  Scarcely  anything  is  known  of  the  very 
early  inhabitants.  At  some  later  period  these  primitive  men  were 
succeeded  by  men  of  another  race,  who  must  have  crossed  from 
the  mainland  on  rafts  or  in  rude  boats.  These  people,  as  relics 
show,  were  superior  to  those  who  had  preceded  them.  They  had 
stone  axes  and  better  weapons  ;  they  made  a  rude  kind  of  pottery  ; 
they  knew  how  to  spin  and  weave ;  they  possessed  sheep,  pigs, 
goats,  and  dogs ;  and  they  built  rude  huts,  surrounding  them  with 
fields  of  cultivated  grain.  Moreover,  unlike  their  predecessors, 
they  did  not  leave  their  dead  unburied,  but  interred  them  in  long 
mounds  called  barrows.  These  men,  it  is  believed,  were  of  the 
Iberian  race,  to  which  may  belong  the  Basques,  a  people  who  live 
in  the  Pyrenees.  These  Iberians  were  short,  and  probably  of 
dark  complexion. 

3.  The  Celts.  —  Later,  possibly  seven  or  eight  hundred  years  be¬ 
fore  the  Christian  era,  the  Celts  came  to  Britain.  They  were  tall, 
with  fair  hair  and  fair  complexion,  and  were  famous  for  bravery 
and  vigor.  They  had  learned  the  use  of  metals,  and  the  Iberians 
had  little  chance  against  them.  Instead  of  destroying  the  Iberians, 
however,  the  Celts  probably  pushed  them  back  toward  Wales  and 
the  north  ;  to  some  extent,  they  appear  to  have  intermarried  with 
them.  These  first  Celtic  invaders  have  been  called  Goidels. 

After  a  long  time,  there  was  another  invasion  of  Celts  ;  these  have 
been  called  Brythons  or  Britons.  As  their  predecessors  seem  to 
have  pushed  back  the  Iberians,  so  the  Britons  seem  to  have  pushed 
back  the  Goidels.  A  map  of  the  British  Isles,  at  the  close  of  the 
Celtic  invasions,  would  show  the  Britons  in  possession  of  the  cen¬ 
tral  and  southeastern  parts  of  the  island,  and  the  Goidels  of  the 
Highlands  of  Scotland,  southern  and  western  Wales,  Cornwall,  the 
Isle  of  Man,  and  Ireland.  The  Gaels  of  the  Scottish  Highlands 
and  the  Irish  are  descended  from  the  Goidels ;  and  the  Welsh 
from  the  Britons.' 

‘The  Gaelic  language  of  Scotland,  the  Manx  of  the  Isle  of  Man,  and  the  Erse 
of  Ireland  are  derived  from  the  language  spoken  by  the  Goidels,  but  the  Welsh  of 
Wales  from  the  language  spoken  by  the  Britons. 


PREHISTORIC  AND  EARLY  BRITAIN 


3 


The  Celts  were  at  first  a  people  whose  chief  wealth  lay  in  flocks 
and  herds,  and  whose  agriculture  was  of  the  simplest  kind.  In 
later  times  they  cultivated  farms  and  built  rude  villages.  Later 
still,  mining,  commerce,  and  other  occupations  sprung  up,  hastened 
by  the  influence  and  example  of  more  civilized  immigrants  from 
the  continent. 

Their  government  was  of  a  primitive  type.  There  were  numer¬ 
ous  tribes,  the  members  of  which  were  connected  by  blood,  or 
supposed  to  be  connected,  with  the  chief  of  the  tribe.  Each 


Stonehenge 

After  a  photograph  taken  in  1909 

fapnily  was  ruled  by  its  head,  and  he,  in  turn,  was  subject  to  the 
chief.  There  were  laws  and  penalties  in  regard  to  certain  offenses, 
but  it  would  seem  there  were  few  arrangements  for  carrying  them 
out.  Every  tribe  had  its  land  which  was  held  in  common  and  on 
which  each  man  had  the  right  to  pasture  his  cattle,  and  he  could 
get  wood  from  a  common  forest.  In  addition  to  this,  each  family 
had  a  portion  of,  arable  land.  Boundaries  were  often  ill-defined, 
and  as  no  man  had  a  right  to  settle  within  the  limits  of  another 
tribe,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  there  could  be  little  union  among  the 
tribes  and  that  occasions  for  quarrels  would  be  frequent. 

The  Britons  worshiped  many  gods  and  possibly  made  use  of 
human  sacrifices.  The  priests  and  learned  men  of  the  Celts  were 
called  Druids ;  they  were  also  the  judges,  though  it  was  their  duty 
to  advise  and  counsel  rather  than  to  punish  in  the  modern  sense. 
As  none  of  the  laws,  history,  or  poetry  of  these  Celts  was  committed 


4 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


to  writing,  our  knowledge  of  them  and  their  customs  is  necessarily 
limited  and  we  cannot  speak  with  certainty. 

The  circles  of  huge  stones  found  in  various  parts  of  Great 
Britain,  of  which  Stonehenge  in  the  south  of  England  is  the  most 
noted,  were  long  supposed  to  be  Druidic  temples  of  some  sort. 
It  is  now  thought  that  they  were  raised  by  some  of  the  inhabitants 
earlier  than  the  Druids,  possibly  in  honor  of  ancestors.^ 

It  was,  perhaps,  in  the  third  or  fourth  century  before  Christ, 
that  Gauls  and  Belgians  in  considerable  numbers  settled  in  the 
southern  and  eastern  parts  of  England,  and  it  is  likely  that  to  these 
later  settlers  belong  the  tribes  mentioned  by  the  Romans,  such  as 
the  Cantii,  Trinobantes,  Iceni,  and  others. 

Naturally,  the  intercourse  which  these  tribes  had  with  the 
continent  would  be  closer  and  more  frequent  than  that  of  the 
earlier  comers,  and  it  is  probably  due  to  this  fact  that  we  find  that 
they  advanced  more  rapidly  in  civilization.  They  used  gold  coins, 
employed  chariots  in  war,  constructed  roads,  and  built  better 
houses,  and  cultivated  more  fields  than  did  their  neighbors.  But 
the  Britons  were  still  far  from  being  a  highly  civilized  people. 
The  greater  part  of  the  island  was  covered  with  forests,  most  of 
the  tribes  were  barbarous,  and  even  the  best  of  them  were  far  be¬ 
hind  the  Romans  in  the  arts  and  comforts  of  civilized  life. 

4.  The  Romans;  Julius  Caesar.  B.C.  55. — The  Romans  first 
came  into  contact  with  Britain  in  the  time  of  Julius  Caesar.  While 
he  was  occupied  in  making  the  conquest  of  Gaul,  he  learned  that 
some  of  the  tribes  were  receiving  aid  from  Britain,  and  he  deter¬ 
mined  to  invade  the  island,  partly  from  love  of  conquest,  partly 
to  put  an  end  to  the  aid  given  the  Gauls,  and  possibly  in  the 
hope  of  gaining  spoils.  He  started  on  his  expedition  in  the  year 
55  B.C.  The  effort  to  conquer  Britain  was  unsuccessful,  owing  to 
storms  and  to  the  size  of  the  vessels,  which  made  it  impossible  to 
run  them  upon  the  beach  and  land  the  soldiers  easily.  The 
soldiers,  however,  did  their  best.  They  leaped  from  their  ships, 
1  These  circles  are  usually  connected  with  burial  places. 


10 


8 


6 


4  2  «  0 


ORKNEY 


^Quncansby  Head 


SKYE 


lONA^ 
Firth  of 


tSLAY 


^oncgalBCZ^ 


I^trict' 


HuTTiber  B. 


Mersey  /?. 


PeaK> 


'Ottlwatf 
Bay  j 


ANGLESEY 


ilvern: 
lills  ‘ 


Bristol  Chajuiel^ 

jC  'Bjjfhpor^; 


South]  -Ot 


M.  OF 
WIGHT 


CHANNEL  18. 


SMeTLANO  ISLES 
Sninc  scalp  ns 
lorcc  tnap  D 


PHYSICAL  MAP 
OF  THE 

BRITISH  ISLES 

Scale  of  Miles 


north 


Sea  level  to  500  feet 

500  feet  to  1000  feet 


Q  Over  1000  feet 


Lontfitude  4  from  Greenwich  2 


PREHISTORIC  AND  EARLY  BRITAIN 


5 


waded  ashore,  and  drove  back  the  natives.  But  the  storms  kept 
the  ships  bearing  the  cavalry  from  coming  to  Caesar’s  aid,  and  also 
seriously  injured  those  vessels  from  which  the  first  detachment  of 
troops  had  landed.  So  when  the  Britons,  after  some  skirmishes, 
gave  promises  of  tribute,  Caesar  deemed  it  wise  to  return  to  Gaul. 

The  next  year,  54  b.c.,  Caesar  made  another  attempt  to  gain  a 
foothold  in  the  island.  This  time,  though  he  won  several  victories 
and  advanced  farther  into  the  country,  his  success  was  due  rather 
to  the  fact  that  the  Britons  were  divided  among  themselves  than  to 
his  own  skill.  Cassivelaunus,  the  British  chief,  agreed  to  pay  trib¬ 
ute  to  Rome,  and  Caesar  returned  to  Gaul.  But  there  is  no 
evidence  that  Cassivelaunus  ever  paid  any  tribute. 

5.  Roman  Conquest.  A. D.  43-85.  —  Ninety  years  after  Caesar 
had  left  Britain,  the  Roman  Emperor  Claudius  sent  an  army  of 
40,000  men  to  undertake  the  conquest  of  the  island.  This  time 
tribe  after  tribe  submitted  to  the  Romans,  and  in  a  few  years  a 
large  part  of  what  is  now  England  became  a  province  of  the 
Roman  Empire.  During  this  war  of  conquest,  Caractacus,  the 
chief  leader  of  the  Britons,  betrayed  by  his  companions,  was  taken 
captive  and  carried  in  chains  to  Rome.  It  is  told  that  as  he  was 
taken  through  the  streets  of  the  great  city,  he  said  to  the  Roman 
Emperor,  “  How  is  it  that  you  who  dwell  in  such  grand  palaces 
envy  us  poor  Britons  our  thatched  cots?”  The  Emperor,  pleased 
at  his  words  and  his  self-respect,  granted  him  his  liberty. 

For  thirty  years  Roman  Britain  was  in  a  state  of  almost  constant 
warfare.  Attacks  from  unsubdued  tribes  from  without  the  bound¬ 
aries  and  rebellions  within  them  were  frequent. 

In  the  year  78  a.d.  Agricola,  an  able  general  and  statesman,  was 
appointed  governor  of  Britain.  His  first  efforts  were  directed  to 
securing  peace.  He  appointed  honest  and  just  men  to  subordi¬ 
nate  offices,  he  strove  to  correct  the  many  abuses  which  had  been 
common  during  the  rule  of  his  predecessors,  and  in  every  pos¬ 
sible  way  he  showed  the  Britons  that  he  desired  them  to  be  pro¬ 
tected  against  unjust  extortion.  His  strong  rule  put  down  all 


6 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


attempts  at  rebellion,  and  by  attacking  the  unsubdued  tribes  on 
the  borders  he  did  much  both  to  secure  peace  and  to  enlarge  the 
empire.  He  attacked  the  Caledonians  or  Piets  of  the  north,  but 
they  retreated  to  the  Highlands  of  Scotland  where  he  could  not 
follow.  He  therefore  built  a  line  of  forts  ^  from  the  Clyde  to  the 
Forth  as  a  means  of  protection  against  invasions  by  these  savage 
Piets.  He  extended  the  Roman  boundaries  to  the  Irish  Sea  and 
even  planned  an  invasion  of  Ireland,  but  was  recalled  by  the 
Emperor,  who  may  have  feared  that  his  general  was  becoming  too 
popular  and  too  powerful,  or  perhaps  he  thought  it  unwise  to 
extend  the  Roman  conquests.  The  Emperor  Hadrian  visited 
Britain  about  120  a.d.,  and  built  a  wall  from  the  river  Tyne  to  the 
Solway  firth.  Sections  of  this  wall  still  remain  in  a  very  fair  state 
of  presen’ation. 

6.  Roman  Occupation.  85-410  A.D.  General  Characteristics. 
—  Under  the  six  years  of  Agricola’s  rule,  Britain  had  become 
a  well-ordered  province,  and  under  his  successors,  the  general 
policy  of  Rome  in  regard  to  her  provinces  was  strictly  carried  out. 
A  province  was  administered  for  the  advantage  of  Rome,-  for  the 
amount  of  revenue  which  could  be  secured,  and  for  the  profitable 
offices  which  could  be  given  to  Roman  office  seekers.  The  direct 
welfare  of  the  people  themselves  was  seldom  taken  into  considera¬ 
tion  except  as  it  might  benefit  the  rulers.  In  order  that  the  desired 
ends  might  be  gained,  it  was  needful  that  there  should  be  peace 
and  prosperity.  Therefore  a  strong  government- was  to  be  main¬ 
tained,  communication  between  different  parts  of  the  country  made 
easy,  and  all  possible  encouragement  given  to  agriculture  and  the 
arts. 

Eurthermore,  it  was  the  policy  of  Rome  to  break  up  any  feeling 
of  local  patriotism.  When  a  man  in  a  province  was  drafted  or 
forced  into  the  Roman  army,  he  was  usually  sent  away  to  some 
distant  frontier,  there  to  form  part  of  the  imperial  army.  He  was 
not  called  upon  to  defend  his  own  home  or  province.  Two  results 

1  This  is  questioned  by  some  authorities. 


THE  ROMANS  IN  BRITAIN  7 

followed  this  policy:  (i)  he  lost  the  feeling  of  patriotism  and 
looked  upon  himself  as  the  servant  of  the  Emperor;  and  (2)  the 
people  felt  no  responsibility  themselves,  but  looked  upon  the 
Emperor  as  bound  to  defend  them  from  their  enemies. 

7.  The  Romans  in  Britain.  —  Little  record  has  been  preserved 
of  the  details  of  the  Roman  occupation  of  Britain,  which  lasted  for 
more  than  three  hundred  years.  At  different  points  throughout 
the  country,  camps  were  built  and  garrisoned  by  soldiers.  These 


Remains  of  Hadrian’s  Wall 


places  were  skillfully  chosen  for  ease  of  defense  and  for  centers  of 
influence.  Not  a  few  of  them  became  cities  and  towns  which 
have  lasted  until  the  present  time.  Such  are  Chester,*  Lincoln, 
York,  Colchester,  Bath,  Gloucester,  Winchester,  and  others.  Lon¬ 
don  was  doubtless,  even  in  Roman  times,  somewhat  of  a  commer¬ 
cial  center.  To  connect  the  forts  and  camps  so  that  troops  and 
supplies  could  be  readily  and  quickly  furnished,  military  roads 
were  constructed  binding  the  camps  and  forts  into  one  system. 
Some  of  these  old  roads  are  still  in  use,  such  as  that  now  known 
as  Watling  Street,  which,  beginning  at  Dover,  ran  through  London 
to  Chester ;  and  the  Fosse  Way,^  which  ran  from  Exeter  to  Lin¬ 
coln,  and  there  connected  with  a  road  to  York.  Built  primarily 

1  Chester  is  derived  from  the  Latin  word  castra,  a  camp,  as  is  also  the  termination 
Chester  in  Colchester,  Gloucester,  Winchester,  etc. 

2  So  called  from  the  fosse  or  ditch  along  each  side  of  it. 


8 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


for  military  uses,  these  roads  were  also  highways  for  travel  and  for 
the  transportation  of  grain  and  various  other  articles  of  commerce. 
It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  roads  were  better  and  the  trans¬ 
portation  of  goods  and  passengers  easier  and  safer  in  the  time  of 
the  Roman  occupation  than  in  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century. 

The  Romans  were  great  town  builders,  and  during  their  control 
of  the  island  it  is  estimated  that  about  sixty  cities  and  towns  were 
built,  about  half  of  which  were  fortified.  In  these  towns,  so  far 
as  practicable,  the  arts  and  luxuries  of  Roman  life  were  introduced, 
and  the  numerous  remains  of  baths,  theaters,  villas,  etc.,  which 
have  been  discovered,  indicate  both  the  extent  to  which  this  was 
done  and  the  wealth  of  the  Roman  proprietors. 

Agriculture  was  encouraged  by  the  introduction  of  better  tools 
and  by  improved  methods  of  cultivation,  as  well  as  by  new  varie¬ 
ties  of  fruits,  plants,  and  seeds.  Marshes  and  fens  were  drained, 
lands  reclaimed  from  the  sea,  and  dikes  built  to  preser\'e  them 
from  further  damage  ;  the  iron,  tin,  and  lead  mines  were  skillfully 
and  extensively  worked ;  salt  works  were  established ;  and  trade 
and  commerce  encouraged  and  developed. 

Besides  these  material  improvements,  the  Roman  law,  which 
has  served  in  many  points  as  a  model  for  modern  law,  was  intro¬ 
duced,  but  it  was  mainly  for  the  Romans  and  for  the  few  Roman¬ 
ized  Britons.  Latin  became  the  language  of  the  towns,  although 
in  the  country  it  made  little  headway. 

Much  of  the  good  that  was  in  the  Roman  administration  was 
overbalanced  by  evil.  The  taxes  were  burdensome  and  payment 
was  often  cruelly  enforced.  There  were  heavy  taxes  on  all  kinds 
of  trade,  and  tribute  both  of  money  and  grain  was  exacted  for  the 
support  of  the  imperial  armies  and  the  use  of  the  empire.  Again, 
it  was  impossible  to  bring  about  in  the  island  of  Britain  that  close¬ 
ness  of  intercourse  with  the  Romans  which  gave  a  semi-independ¬ 
ence  to  city  life  in  Gaul  and  Spain.  From  these  causes,  the 
Britons  had  little  training  for  self-government. 


ROMAN  BRITAIN 


9 


lO 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


When  the  Romans  conquered  a  country,  they  rarely  interfered 
with  its  religion  unless  it  came  into  conflict  with  their  political 
rule.  In  Britain  the  Druids,  having  incited  their  followers  against 
the  Romans,  were  ruthlessly  put  down;  but  beyond  this,  there 
was  no  interference  with  religious  observances.  Little  is  known 
concerning  the  first  introduction  of  Christianity.  It  is  likely  that 
the  new  religion  gradually  found  a  place  in  the  island  through  the 
merchants  and  soldiers  who  came  from  the  continent.  By  the 
third  century,  it  had  gained  considerable  foothold,  for  we  hear  of 
three  bishops  from  Britain  at  the  Council  of  Arles  (314),  but 
the  influence  of  Christianity  does  not  seem  to  have  extended 
much  beyond  the  towns.  Among  the  missionaries  of  the  early 
days  three  were  noted  men  :  Pelagius,  Ninian,  and  Patricius,  better 
known  as  St.  Patrick,  the  apostle  of  Ireland.  Christianity  was  not 
introduced  without  suffering  and  martyrdom.  St.  Alban,  who 
is  reckoned  the  first  British  martyr,  was  slain  (304?)  at  Verulam, 
about  twenty  miles  north  of  London,  near  where  the  Cathedral 
of  St.  Albans  now  stands. 

8.  Withdrawal  of  Rome  from  Britain.  410.  —  By  the  middle 
of  the  fourth  century,  the  power  of  the  Roman  Empire  was  de¬ 
clining.  Its  armies  were  no  longer  composed  of  Romans,  but  of 
foreigners ;  taxation  was  heavy  and  there  was  little  national  feel¬ 
ing.  The  barbarians  on  the  borders  of  the  empire  had  increased 
in  power  and  knowledge  ;  had  learned  the  value  of  united  effort ; 
and  for  the  sake  of  attacking  the  common  enemy,  joined  in  loose 
confederacies.  (App.  i,  §§  1-5.) 

Early  in  the  fifth  century,  the  barbarians  had  penetrated  far 
within  the  boundaries  of  the  empire  and  were  threatening  even  the 
capital  city.  The  distant  provinces  could  no  longer  be  protected 
from  invasion,  but  were  left  to  themselves.  This  was  the  case 
with  Britain.  The  last  Roman  legions  were  withdrawn  in  410  a.d.^ 
to  aid  in  defending  Rome  against  the  Goths,  and  from  that  time 
Britain  ceased  to  be  a  part  of  the  Roman  Empire.  The  inhabit- 
1  Some  authorities  say  407. 


EARLY  BRITAIN 


1 1 

ants  still  clung  to  the  hope  that  the  Roman  troops  would  return, 
and  nearly  fifty  years  later  sent  a  final  appeal  for  help  to  the 
Roman  authorities.  “  The  barbarians,”  they  said,  “  drive  us  to 
the  sea ;  the  sea  drives  us  back  to  the  barbarians ;  between  them 
we  are  exposed  to  two  sorts  of  death ;  we  are  either  slain  or 
drowned.”  But  this  appeal  was  of  no  avail,  for  it  was  impossible 
for  the  Romans  to  send  any  aid.  How  much  permanent  effect 
the  Roman  occupation  had  on  the  development  of  Britain  it  is 
impossible  to  estimate  with  accuracy,  but  it  is  more  than  likely 
that  it  was  considerable. 

References.  —  Green,  Making  of  England,  Introduction;  Green,  Short 
History,  chap,  i,  §  i ;  Gardiner,  Student's  History,  chap,  i ;  Terry,  History, 
Part  I,  chap,  i;  Tout,  Advanced  History,  chaps,  i-ii  ;  Rhys,  Celtic  Britain  ; 
Scarth,  Ro?naii  Britain  ;  Traill,  Social  England,  vol.  I,  Introduction,  chaps, 
i-ii,  §  i;  Cheyney,  chaps,  i-iii ;  Colby,  Selections,  §§  I-5  ;  Ken¬ 

dall,  Source-Book,  §§  1-2  ;  Lee,  Source-Book,  chap.  iii. 


A  House  of  the  Early  Britons 


CHAPTER  II 


TEUTONIC  CONQUEST 

9.  Teutonic  Conquest  Begun.  449.  —  As  soon  as  Roman  au¬ 
thority  was  definitely  withdrawn,  at  the  very  time  when  union 
was  most  needed,  strife  arose  among  the  local  rulers,  and  petty 
jealousies  and  ambitions  divided  the  people.  Even  during  the 
Roman  occupation  the  peace  of  Britain  had  been  continually  dis¬ 
turbed  by  the  Piets  and  Scots  on  the  northern  border,  and  by  in¬ 
vasions  from  pirates  along  the  eastern  coast.  All  these  marauders 
made  frequent  and  alarming  attacks,  and  many  of  the  pirates  with 
their  families  established  settlements,  of  which  the  earliest  were 
probably  on  the  coast  of  what  is  now  Essex. 

At  length,  despairing  of  bringing  about  peace  and  order,  Vorti- 
gern,  one  of  the  British  leaders,  is  said  to  have  invited  Hengist 
and  Horsa,  two  chiefs  from  what  is  now  Denmark,  to  come  to 
his  aid,  promising  in  return  both  land  and  money.  Tradition  says 
that  they  landed  with  a  band  of  warriors  in  449  at  Ebbsfleet, 
on  the  Isle  of  Thanet,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Thames.  Vortigern 
gave  them  this  island  for  a  home. 

10.  Angles;  Saxons;  Jutes.  449-550.  —  The  Teutonic  people 
who  had  now  come  to  Britain  were  of  three  tribes —  Jutes,  Angles, 
and  Saxons  —  from  the  neighborhood  of  the  rivers  Elbe  and 
Weser  in  northern  Germany.  They  were  bold  and  warlike,  fine 
seamen,  and  dangerous  foes.  They  were  heathen,  worshiping 
the  gods  of  the  Teutonic  race.  Their  first  expeditions  were 
solely  for. the  sake  of  pillage. 

The  Jutes  soon  learned  their  own  strength  and  the  weakness  of 
the  Britons.  Declaring  themselves  dissatisfied  with  their  treat- 


12 


TEUTONIC  CONQUEST 


13 


ment  and  reenforced,  no  doubt,  by  newcomers  from  the  conti¬ 
nent,  they  crossed  the  narrow  strait  which  separated  Thanet  from 
the  mainland  and  ravaged  the  surrounding  country,  destroying 
the  villas,  houses,  and  churches.  Of  the  inhabitants  who  escaped, 
some  took  refuge  in  the  forests  or  in  London,  and  some  fled  to 
Gaul  and  never  returned.  The  captured  were  put  to  death  or 
made  slaves.  The  contest  was  a  stubborn  one,  however,  and  it 
was  about  sixty  years  before  the  Jutes  subdued  southern  Britain. 

In  477  bands  of  Saxons  came,  and  landing  on  the  south  shore, 
west  of  Kent,  were  known  as  the  South  Saxons.  A  few  years 
later,  the  fortress  of  Anderida  (Pevensey)  was  taken  by  two  Saxon 
leaders,  who,  says  the  old  Chronicle,  “  slew  all  that  were  therein, 
nor  was  there  afterwards  one  Briton  left.”  After  this  victory  the 
kingdom  of  the  South  Saxons  (Sussex)  was  set  up. 

Meantime,  other  bands  of  Saxons  were  invading  the  shores 
north  of  the  Thames  and  making  settlements  known  as  those  of 
the  East  Saxons  (Essex).  To  the  north  of  these  came  the  third 
set  of  invaders,  who  were  called  Angles.  These  were  to  give  their 
name  to  the  island  itself,  for  England  is  but  Angleland.  Little  is 
known  concerning  their  attacks  and  settlements,  but  there  is  no 
doubt  that  these  were,  in  all  essential  points,  like  those  of  their 
neighbors,  the  Jutes  and  Saxons.  By  the  close  of  the  fifth  century, 
the  whole  coast  of  Great  Britain  from  the  Wash  round  to  the  Isle 
of  Wight  was  in  the  possession  of  the  invaders. 

In  495  bands  of  Saxons  and  Jutes  entered  Southampton  water 
and  advanced  to  the  interior.  In  a  few  years  they  took  Winches¬ 
ter  and  founded  the  kingdom  of  the  West  Saxons  (Wessex),  over 
which  Cedric  became  king.  From  him  are  descended  nearly  all 
the  kings  that  have  ruled  Great  Britain,  including  King  George  V. 
The  advance  of  the  Saxons  was  checked  by  the  victory  of  the 
Britons  at  Mount  Badon^  in  the  year  520  (  ?),  and  for  thirty  years 
no  further  advance  seems  to  have  been  made. 

1  The  position  of  Mount  Badon  has  not  been  identified.  It  was  probably  a  few 
miles  south  of  Salisbury.  The  date  of  the  battle  is  not  certainly  known. 


H 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


Tradition  says  it  was  King  Arthur,  who  by  his  words  and  ex¬ 
ample  inspired  the  Britons  to  resist  the  Saxons,  and  who  led  his 
followers  to  victory.  Whether  this  be  so  or  not,  the  legends  of 
King  Arthur  doubtless  express  the  hopes  and  fears  of  the  Britons, 
and  give,  in  the  form  of  romance,  the  story  of  their  weakness  and 
their  strength,  and  of  their  efforts  to  conquer  the  invaders  of  their 
land. 

11.  Teutonic  Conquest  Continued.  552-600. — The  success  of 
the  Britons  was  only  temporary.  A  new  advance  was  begun  by 
the  Saxons  in  552,  and  during  the  next  twenty-five  years  almost 
continual  victory  was  theirs.  By  577  the  country  as  far  as  the 
river  Severn  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  invaders,  and  they 
had  succeeded  in  possessing  themselves  of  the  south  central  parts 
of  the  island,  thus  dividing  the  Britons  of  the  west  from  those 
of  the  north  and  east.  How  far  the  natives  were  destroyed  or 
pushed  back  is  not  clear,  but  it  is  likely  that  in  these  later  con¬ 
flicts  large  numbers  were  spared  and  in  course  of  time  became 
intermingled  with  the  conquerors. 

12.  Early  Teutonic  Kingdoms.  —  Meanwhile  the  conquest  of 
the  island  went  steadily  on,  though  slowly,  for  the  Britons  made  a 
brave  resistance.  The  Angles  spread  north  and  west  from  their 
settlements  north  of  the  Thames,  and  other  bands  came  from  the 
continent.  By  the  close  of  the  sixth  century,  the  English,  as  the 
invaders  should  now  be  called,  held  more  than  half  of  what  we 
know  as  England,  comprising  the  eastern  and  southern  parts, 
which  were  the  richest  and  most  fertile.  Gradually  the  weaker 
chiefs  submitted  to  the  stronger,  the  smaller  kingdoms  to  the 
larger,  so  that  about  the  year  600  the  land  was  divided  among  a 
few  principal  chiefs  who  were  called  kings.  Of  these  kingdoms, 
those  founded  by  the  Angles  were  the  most  extensive.  Out  of 
earlier  Anglian  tribes  was  formed  Northumbria,  with  York  as  its 
capital ;  south  of  this,  along  the  coast,  was  East  Anglia,  formed  of 
the  Northfolk  (Norfolk)  and  the  Southfolk  (Suffolk)  ;  while  west 
of  these,  extending  to  the  Welsh  border,  was  Mercia,  the  king- 


TEUTONIC  BRITAIN 


15 


TEUTONIC 

BRITAIN 

Beale  of  Eogllsb  Miles 


i6 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


dom  of  the  marks  or  boundaries.  The  central  district  south  of 
Mercia  and  east  of  the  Welsh  borders  was  held  by  the  kingdom  of 
Wessex  (West  Saxons),  whose  capital  was  Winchester;  this,  to¬ 
gether  with  Sussex  (South  Saxons)  and  Essex  (East  Saxons),  which 
correspond  nearly  with  the  modern  counties  of  the  same  names, 
made  up  the  Saxon  kingdoms.  The  Jutes  held  Kent,  the  Isle  of 
Wight,  and  a  small  amount  of  territory  near  by  on  the  English 
coast.  (App.  I,  §  lo.) 

13.  Teutonic  or  English  Civilization.  600.  —  We  know  too 
little  of  the  life  and  customs  of  the  inhabitants  of  Britain  to  say 
with  certainty  how  far  the  English  destroyed  the  civilization  then 
existing.  As  the  original  home  of  the  Teuton  invaders  was  far 
beyond  the  bounds  of  the  Roman  Empire,  they  had  never  come 
into  close  contact  with  the  imperial  civilization,  as  had  their  Ger¬ 
man  brethren  along  the  Rhine,  who,  to  a  large  extent,  had 
adopted  the  laws,  customs,  and  manners  of  the  Romans.  It  was 
far  different  with  the  English.  They  retained  their  own  laws, 
customs,  and  religion ;  so  paganism  became  ascendant  wherever 
they  ruled.  They  treated  the  conquered  with  severity,  laying 
waste,  without  hesitation,  cities,  churches,  dwellings,  and  farms, 
and  slaying  the  inhabitants  or  selling  them  into  slavery.  They 
kept  their  language,  which  became  the  tongue  of  the  land  and  has 
remained  so  ever  since.  The  fact  that  so  few  Celtic  words 
remain  in  the  English  language  indicates  how  completely  the  new 
language  took  the  place  of  the  old.  And  the  almost  entire 
absence  of  Roman  terms  of  law  and  of  Roman  customs  shows  how 
thoroughly  the  laws  and  customs  of  the  English  drove  out  those 
of  the  Roman  occupation.^ 

The  English  had  a  well-defined  civilization  of  their  own  on 
which  rests  much  of  what  the  English  peoples  now  value  most  in 
political  matters.  Under  Roman  law  the  individual  was  of  little 

1  The  names  of  Roman  towns  still  surviving  indicate  that  some  of  the  cities  were 
not  destroyed,  and  it  may  be  that  Roman  influence  was  more  lasting  than  is  at 
first  apparent. 


THE  ANGLES  AND  SAXONS 


17 

account ;  the  state  was  everything.  Under  English  or  Anglo- 
Saxon  law,  the  individual  was  of  great  importance  and  the  free¬ 
man  had  great  power.  The  Anglo-Saxons  were  an  intelligent, 
though  not  a  cultivated,  people.  They  had  little  real  literature 
and  but  a  slight  conception  of  art,  or  of  the  beautiful,  or  of  the 
refinements  and  luxuries  of  civilized  life ;  but  they  were  strong 
and  hardy ;  they  possessed  a  capacity  for  self-government  and 
organization,  and  they  were  self-reliant.  They  came  to  stay  and 
brought  their  wives  and  families  with  them.  They  were  agricul¬ 
tural  in  their  tastes,  and  as  soon  as  practicable,  settled  down  to 
cultivate  the  land  and  to  make  homes  for  themselves.  This  latter 
trait  has  ever  been  a  characteristic  of  the  race,  as  has  been  shown 
so  clearly  in  the  history  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  or  English  colonists 
in  America,  Australia,  and  South  Africa.  No  subsequent  invaders 
were  able  to  drive  out  the  English.  By  them  were  laid  the 
solid  foundations  of  modern  England,  and  to  them  are  due  the 
best  and  most  characteristic  traits  in  the  English  race  wherever  it 
may  be. 

14.  Introduction  of  Christianity.  584-597.  —  As  England 
became  quieter  it  is  likely  that  intercourse  with  the  Continent  was 
resumed  and  the  English  were  brought  into  contact  with  the 
Roman  civilization  of  Gaul.  That  this  intercourse  was  both 
friendly  and  influential  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  about  584  Ethel- 
bert.  King  of  Kent,  married  Bertha,  the  daughter  of  a  Frankish 
king,  Charibert.  She  was  a  Christian  and  was  allowed  to  bring  a 
Christian  bishop  with  her  to  her  new  home.  At  her  request 
the  king  gave  her  a  mined  church  where  Christian  worship  could 
be  celebrated.  This  was  the  beginning  of  a  new  introduction  of 
Christianity  into  England. 

Ethelbert  was  a  strong  king,  and  besides  ruling  his  own  Kent, 
exerted  a  powerful  if  not  controlling  influence  over  most  of  the 
other  kings  south  of  the  river  Humber.  This  fact,  together  with 
that  of  his  having  a  Christian  wife,  attracted  the  attention  of  Pope 
Gregory  I.  Long  before  Gregory  became  Pope,  the  story  is. 


1 8  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 

he  had  wished  to  go  as  a  missionary  to  Britain,  and  one  day  he 
had  seen  in  the  market  place  at  Rome  some  boys  who  were  for  sale 
as  slaves.  “  From  what  country  do  these  slaves  come?  ”  he  asked 
the  merchant.  The  answer  was,  “  They  are  Angles.”  “  Not 
Angles,  but  angels,”  he  said.  “  With  faces  so  angel-like.  From 

what  country  come 
they?”  “They 
come,”  said  the 
merchant,  “from 
Deira.”  “  ira, 
ay !  plucked  from 
God’s  ire^  and 
called  to  Christ’s 
mercy  !  And  what 
is  the  name  of  their 
king?”  They 
told  him  “  ^lla.” 
“  Alleluia  shall  be 
sung  in  Ella’s 
land,”  he  said,  and 
passed  on. 

When  he  became 
Pope,  Gregory  re¬ 
membered  Britain 
and  resolved  to  bring  back  that  land  to  Christianity.  So  he  sent 
a  monk,  Augustine,  who  with  a  band  of  missionaries  landed  in 
Kent  in  597.  True,  this  was  not  the  land  of  vElla,  but  it  was 
better  suited  as  a  place  to  begin  the  work,  for  it  was  easy  of 
access,  and,  moreover,  its  queen  was  already  a  Christian. 

Augustine  and  his  fellow  monks  were  Benedictines,  whose 
maxim  was  that  work  and  religion  should  always  go  together. 
“  To  labor  is  to  pray  ”  was  a  saying  of  Benedict,  the  founder  of 

1  It  is  not  easy  to  give  the  play  upon  words.  Deira,  the  name  of  one  of  the 
English  kingdoms,  resembles  the  Latin  words  de  ira,  meaning  “  from  wrath." 


Gregory  and  the  Little  English  Slaves 


INTRODUCTION  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


19 


the  order.  The  missionaries  landed  on  the  Isle  of  Thanet  where 
Hengist  and  Horsa  had  landed  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  before  ; 
the  mission  of  this  peaceful  band  was  not  to  bring  fire  and 
sword,  but  peace  and  good  will. 

Augustine  and  his  comrades  were  received  with  great  pleasure 
by  the  queen  and  with  kindness  by  the  king.  He  listened, 
through  an  interpreter,  to  the  preaching  of  the  missionaries  and 
promised  them  shelter  and  protection,  but  he  was  unwilling,  as 
yet,  to  embrace  their  faith.  Augustine  before  long  returned  to 
Gaul  to  be  made  a  bishop.  He  came  back  as  archbishop,  and 
having  made  Canterbury  his  headquarters,  that  church  became 
the  mother  of  the  English  church.  To-day  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  is  the  Primate  of  the  Church  of  England.  There 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  any  great  opposition  to  Christianity, 
but  there  was  great  indifference,  and  Augustine  was  able  to  set  up 
only  two  more  bishoprics,  those  of  London  and  Rochester. 
Ethelbert’s  conversion  was  brought  about  within  a  year,  but 
though  thousands  of  Kentish  men  followed  their  king,  he  dared 
not  urge  his  creed  upon  Essex  and  East  Anglia.  In  fact,  his 
efforts  to  do  so  in  Kent  resulted  in  the  weakening  of  Kentish 
dominion.  Under  Ethelbert’s  successor,  the  political  influence 
of  Kent  was  lost,  and  with  it  Christianity  received  such  a  blow  that 
it  seemed  for  a  time  as  if  its  life  in  England  might  be  over. 

The  coming  of  Augustine  and  his  band  brought  the  southern 
part  of  Britain  much  more  closely  under  the  influence  of  Roman 
civilization.  The  monks  used  the  Latin  language  in  their  church 
services  and  in  correspondence ;  they  were  interested  in  literature 
and  art,  and  they  brought  about  a  considerable  degree  of  refine¬ 
ment  in  taste  and  manners.  It  was  also  probably  due  to  the  in¬ 
fluence  of  the  monks  that  soon  after  their  arrival  the  English 
laws  began  to  be  put  into  writing. 

15.  Celtic  Christianity.  —  Augustine  and  his  band  were  not 
the  first  or  only  Christian  missionaries  in  Britain.  Some  time  dur¬ 
ing  the  fifth  century,  St.  Patrick  had  converted  the  Irish,  and  in 


20 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


the  next  century  the  Irish  church  sent  out  earnest  and  faithful 
missionaries  to  labor  for  the  conversion  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
northern  parts  of  Britain.  Columba  founded  a  monastery  on  the 
island  of  Iona,  and  from  this  place  other  missionaries,  notably 
Aidan,  Cuthbert,  and  Chad,  went  forth.  Aidan  established  himself 
on  Lindisfarne,  or  Holy  Island,  off  the  coast  of  Northumberland, 
whence  he  visited  the  men  of  the  mainland,  urging  them  to  em¬ 
brace  the  faith  and  winning  them  by  his  piety  and 'self-denial. 
Cuthbert’s  mission  was  to  the  Northumbrians;  Chad’s  to  the 
men  of  Mercia.  The  work  of  these  Irish  missionaries  was  most 
helpful  to  those  among  whom  they  went.  Above  everything,  the 
people  needed  self-restraint,  temperance,  a  quiet  and  peaceful 
home  life,  and  a  disposition  to  avoid  cruelty. 

16.  Council  of  Whitby.  664.  —  The  good  influence  of  the 
church  was  marred  by  a  serious  division  among  the  monks  them¬ 
selves,  due  to  the  fact  that  while  the  essentials  of  belief  were  the 
same  in  both  branches  of  the  church,  some  of  the  Celtic 
practices  differed  from  those  of  the  Roman.  One  of  these  had 
to  do  with  the  shape  in  which  the  monks  shaved  the  crown  of 
the  head  to  form  what  is  called  the  tonsure ;  another  related  to 
the  time  of  celebrating  Easter.  It  was  important  that  the  English 
church  should  be  in  harmony  with  the  Roman  church,  which  was 
the  church  of  the  most  civilized  countries,  and  it  was  greatly  to 
the  benefit  of  England  that  at  a  council  held  at  Whitby  in  the 
year  664,  it  was  decided  that  thereafter  the  Roman  customs 
should  be  followed. 

17.  Influence  of  the  Church.  Theodore  of  Tarsus.  668.  Early 
Schools.  —  The  church  in  Britain  grew  and  was  a  great  aid  in 
bringing  about  the  union  of  the  people,  for  when  the  clergy  met  in 
councils  to  consider  the  affairs  of  the  church,  they  met,  not  as  from 
the  petty  kingdoms,  but  as  representatives  of  one  body.  Thus  a 
truly  national  church  grew  up  and  by  its  example  helped  to  suggest 
the  possibility  of  a  national  political  union. 

Four  years  after  the  council  or  synod  of  Whitby,  the  Pope  sent 


BEDE,  ALCUIN,  AND  SCHOOLS 


2  I 

Theodore  of  Tarsus  to  be  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  He  organ¬ 
ized  the  English  church  and  appointed  additional  bishops,  whose 
work  was  not  only  to  convert  the  heathen,  but  also  to  look  after 
those  who  had  been  converted.  At  a  somewhat  later  period, 
parish  priests  were  appointed,  and  church  buildings  were  con¬ 
structed  all  over  the 
land.  The  example  of 
these  local  priests  was 
even  more  influential  in 
softening  the  lives  and 
manners  of  the  people 
than  that  of  the  mission¬ 
ary  monks  had  been. 

Archbishop  Theodore  St.  Martin’s  Church,  Canterbury 

was  a  scholar  as  well  On  the  site  of  a  chapel  built  in  the  Roman  period 
,  ,  ,  and  still  standing  where  Augustine  landed  in  597. 

as  a  churchman,  and  Xhe  walls  now  contain  some  of  the  Roman  bricks  of 

it  was  due  to  him  that  original  church. 

a  school  was  founded  at  Canterbury  in  which,  besides  the  strictly 
religious  teaching,  instruction  was  given  in  arithmetic,  astronomy, 
I.,atin,  Greek,  and  in  most  of  the  branches  of  Roman  learning. 
“  That  which  distinguished  this  school,  and  others  formed  in  imi¬ 
tation  of  it,  was  that  the  scholars  did  not  keep  their  learning  to 
themselves,  but  strove  to  make  it  helpful  to  the  ignorant  and  poor.” 
It  was  also  due  to  Theodore  and  his  clergy  that  the  art  of  build¬ 
ing  in  stone  was  brought  from  the  continent,  and  that  stone 
churches  were  erected  instead  of  wooden  ones.  In  short,  the 
Church  of  England  to-day,  both  spiritual  and  temporal,  rests  upon 
the  foundations  laid  by  Theodore. 

18.  Petty  Kingdoms,  601-839.  Bede.  Alcuin.  Schools. — 
During  the  seventh,  eighth,  and  a  large  part  of  the  ninth 
century,  England  was  divided  into  a  number  of  small  kingdoms,^ 

1  The  principal  kingdoms  were  seven  in  number  and  have  been  called  the 
Heptarchy;  these  were  Northumbria,  Mercia,  East  Anglia,  Elssex,  Kent,  Sussex, 
and  Wessex.  But  there  was  probably  no  period  when  it  would  be  safe  to  say  that 
they  were  all  existing  at  the  same  time. 


22 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


which  were  almost  continually  at  war  with  one  another  either  for 
increase  of  territory  or  for  supremacy. 

It  was,  however,  inevitable  that  one  or  another  of  these  king¬ 
doms  should  get  the  control  over  the  others.  At  one  time 
Northumbria  was  the  strongest;  at  another,  Mercia;  and  at 
another,  Wessex.  Meantime,  though  the  boundaries  of  the  Eng¬ 
lish  were  not  much  extended,  the  Britons,  or  Welsh,  as  they  came 
to  be  called,  hardly  held  their  own.  In  603  a  king  of  Northum¬ 
bria  succeeded  in  gaining  Chester  and  the  territory  near  by,  which 
was  about  equivalent  to  southeast  Lancashire  of  to-day ;  and  his 
successor,  Edwin,  extended  his  bounds  to  the  Firth  of  Forth  and 
built  a  fortress  called  after  himself  Edwinsburgh,  the  beginning 
of  the  modern  Edinburgh.  He  also  brought  under  his  rule  Anglesea 
and  the  Isle  of  Man. 

About  the  middle  of  the  eighth  century,  the  supremacy  passed 
to  Mercia,  whose  king,  Offa  (757-796),  was  an  able  and  energetic 
man.  His  object  was  to  unite  England  under  a  strong  monarchy. 
Besides  gaining  the  overlordship  of  the  other  kingdoms,  he  added 
to  his  dominions  in  the  west.  To  protect  his  possessions  from 
raids  by  the  Britons  he  built  a  wall  of  earth  extending  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Wye  to  the  mouth  of  the  Dee.  This  earthwork 
still  exists  in  part  and  is  known  as  Offa’s  Dyke. 

During  Offa’s  reign  the  intercourse  between  England  and  the 
continent  was  frequent.  It  was  the  time  of  the  Emperor  Charles 
the  Great  or  Charlemagne  (App.  i,  §  30),  with  whom,  as  a  rule, 
Offa’s  relations  were  friendly,  though  he  took  good  care  not  to 
recognize  any  of  Charles’s  claims  to  supremacy  over  Britain.  At 
this  period  the  church  schools  of  Britain,  especially  those  at  Jarrow 
and  at  York,  were  perhaps  the  best  in  Europe.  Among  the  most 
celebrated  monks  was  Bede  of  Jarrow,  who  wrote  a  history  of  the 
English  church  to  which  we  are  indebted  for  most  of  our  knowl¬ 
edge  not  only  of  the  early  British  church,  but  of  early  Britain 
itself.  From  the  school  of  York  Alcuin  went  to  the  court  of 
Charles  to  be  the  center  of  literary  influence  in  his  empire,  and 


THE  UNION  UNDER  EGBERT 


23 


to  aid  in  setting  up  those  schools  of  learning  for  which  the  great 
Emperor  is  justly  renowned.  (App.  i,  §  27.)  Offa  died  in  796 
and  the  supremacy,  not  many  years  after,  passed  away  from 
Mercia. 

Under  Egbert  (802-839)  Wessex  gained  the  leadership.  Like 
Offa,  he  was  only  overlord  of  some  of  the  kingdoms,  but  his 
power  was  stronger  than  that  of  the  Mercian  king.  The  Welsh 
kings  south  of  the  Dee  also  acknowledged  his  supremacy ;  so  in  a 
fuller  sense  than  any  before  him,  he  is  what  he  is  said  to  have 
called  himself,  “  King  of  the  English.^  ”  (App.  i,  §  30.) 

The  union  under  Egbert  was,  however,  the  work  of  force  and 
was  maintained  by  force.  In  each  of  the  old  kingdoms  there 
were  families  who  claimed  a  right  to  govern,  and  these  claims  were 
allowed  by  their  people.  Should  a  king  of  Wessex  arise  who  was 
unable  to  hold  the  scepter  of  Egbert,  it  was  certain  that  the 
supremacy  would  pass  away  from  Wessex  as  it  had  from  Northum¬ 
bria  and  Mercia.  A  new  element  was  needed  to  weld  the  grow¬ 
ing  nation  together  and  make  England  really  English.  This  was 
found  in  the  Danish  invasion. 

References.  —  Green,  Making  of  England.,  chap,  i;  Green,  Short  History, 
chap,  i;  Gardiner,  Student' s  History,  \\\\  Terry,  History,  Part  I,  chaps, 
ii-iii;  Tout,  Advanced  History,  chaps,  iii-iv;  Traill,  Social  England,  vol.  I, 
chap,  ii,  in  part;  Grant  Allen,  Anglo-Saxon  Britain;  Cheyney,  Readings, 
chap,  iv;  Colby,  Selections,  §§  6-7;  Kendall,  Source-Book,  §§  3-5;  Lee, 
Source-Book,  chap.  iv. 

1  In  a  charter  of  the  year  828,  he  styles  himself  "  Rex  Anglorum,”  which,  how¬ 
ever,  may  not,  and  probably  does  not,  mean,  in  the  modern  understanding  of  the 
words,  “  King  of  the  English.” 


CHAPTER  III 


DANISH  INVASIONS  AND  WEST  SAXON  SUPREMACY 

19.  Danish  Invasions  Begun.  787.  —  The  Danes  or  North¬ 
men  were  Teutons  like  the  English,  but  they  were  of  the  Scandi¬ 
navian  branch.  Their  home  was  in  what  is  now  Norway,  Sweden, 
and  Denmark.  They  resembled  in  every  respect  the  Angles, 
Saxons,  and  Jutes  of  the  early  days.  Like  them  they  lived  in 
tribes,  they  were  bold  and  hardy  seamen,  they  were  on  the  look¬ 
out  for  new  homes,  and  they  worshiped  heathen  gods  as  the 
early  settlers  had  done.  Their  language  closely  resembled  the 
English  tongue.  Their  progress  was  a  repetition  of  that  of  the 
English,  for  like  them  they  came  first  to  pillage,  next  to  settle, 
and  last  to  conquer  and  rule.  (App.  i,  §§  37-40.) 

The  first  landing  of  these  new  foes  appears  to  have  been  in 
787,  and  their  attacks  were  so  frequent  that  Egbert  had  to  take 
active  measures  to  repel  them.  After  his  death,  the  inroads  still 
continued,  and  in  851  a  band  of  Northmen  remained  all  winter 
on  the  Isle  of  Thanet.  Two  years  later,  Canterbury  and  London 
were  sacked ;  a  few  years  later,  York  fell  before  the  bold  assail¬ 
ants.  By  this  time,  many  of  the  warlike  characteristics  of  the 
English  had  disappeared.  They  had  given*  up  a  seafaring  life  and 
had  become  landsmen ;  many  had  become  peaceful  and  pros¬ 
perous.  All  this  made  them  an  easy  prey  to  the  daring  enemy. 
The  custom  of  the  attacking  party  was  to  sail  into  one  of  the  river 
mouths,  land  their  men,  throw  up  an  embankment  of  earth  as  a 
defense,  and  with  this  as  their  headquarters  raid  the  country 
all  aroqnd,  slaying  the  people,  burning  the  houses,  barns,  and 
churches,  and  carrying  off  cattle,  goods,  and  whatever  booty  they 
could  find.  Then,  before  the  king  or  chief  officer  could  attack 

24 


DANISH  INVASIONS 


25 


them,  they  sailed  off  to  their  home  in  Norway  or  Sweden  or 
Denmark, 

20.  Danish  Settlements  Begun.  871-878  (?). — It  was  not 
many  years  before  the  Danes  came  to  make  settlements,  bringing 
their  families  with  them, 
and  as  time  went  on,  the 
invaders  came  in  larger 
numbers  and  gained  more 


The  boat  shown  in  the  picture  was  found  in 
1880  in  a  burial  mound  in  Gokstad  in  southern 
Norway.  It  is  78  feet  long. 


and  more  territory.  By 
871  Northumbria  and 
East  Anglia  had  fallen 
into  their  hands  and  they 
controlled  Mercia.  The 
kingdom  of  Wessex  alone 
offered  a  strong  resistance 
to  the  enemy.  In  order  to  escape  ruin  the  English  again  and 
again  bought  off  their  foes  with  money,  a  policy  sure  to  bring 
on  another  attack. 

With  the  acquisition  of  land,  the  second  stage  in  the  history  of 
the  Danish  invaders  began.  The  conquered  land  was  divided 
among  the  victors,  who  at  once  began  to  cultivate  and  settle 
down  upon  their  possessions  just  as  the  English  had  done 
four  hundred  years  before.  There  was,  however,  an  important 
difference.  The  English  had  settled  in  a  land  where  a  strange 
language  was  spoken  and  the  people  were  of  a  different  race. 
The  Northmen,  on  the  contrary,  spoke  a  tongue  closely  allied  to 
that  of  the  English  and  they  were  of  the  same  race.  The  con¬ 
sequence  was  that  the  invaders  became  so  fused  with  the  English 
that  in  a  comparatively  short  period  it  was  impossible  to  distin¬ 
guish  between  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  the  Dane. 

21.  Normans  in  Europe.  787-912. — The  Northmen  also  took 
possession  of  the  Shetlands,  Orkneys,  the  northern  part  of  Scot¬ 
land,  the  Isle  of  Man,  Anglesea,  and  parts  of  Ireland,  all  of  which 
they  held  for  two  or  three  hundred  years. 


26 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


Of  their  conquests  on  the  Continent,  the  most  important  was 
that  of  a  part  of  Gaul  or  France,  which  to  this  day  retains  the 
name  of  Normandy.  Here  the  Northmen  soon  intermingled  with 
their  French  neighbors,  and  it  was  not  many  years  before  the  in¬ 
habitants  of  Normandy  had  changed  their  old  language  and 
spoke  a  French  dialect,  and  they  themselves,  by  the  close  of  the 
tenth  century,  were  no  longer  Northmen,  but  Norman-French. 
These  invasions  by  the  Northmen  were  only  part  of  a  great  exodus 
from  the  Scandinavian  peninsulas  between  the  years  787  and  912. 

22.  Alfred  the  Great.  871-901.  —  Egbert,  king  of  the  West 
Saxons,  died  in  839,  and  for  the  next  thirty  years  his  successors 
were  busy  in  repelling  the  Danish  attacks.  In  the  midst  of 
the  conflict,  Alfred,  a  grandson  of  Egbert,  became  king.  He 
was  the  youngest  brother  of  Ethelred,  the  late  king.  It  was  the 
custom  that  the  one  of  the  royal  family  who  was  thought  to  be 
best  fitted  to  rule  should  succeed  to  the  throne.  As  it  often 
happened  that  the  sons  of  a  king  were  young  at  his  death,  such  a 
practice  was  well  adapted  to  the  conditions  of  that  rough  age,  for 
the  new  ruler  was  likely  to  be  an  experienced  man  able  to  take 
upon  himself  the  care  of  the  state.  Though  only  about  twenty- 
two  years  old,  Alfred  was  in  every  way  fitted  to  be  the  leader 
of  the  hard-pressed  West-Saxons.  No  man  in  history  has  been 
more  clearly  the  right  man  in  the  right  place.  The  qualities 
ascribed  to  the  mythical  Arthur  were  Alfred’s  in  fact,  and  not 
in  fable. 

23.  Treaty  of  Wedmore.  878.  —  For  the  first  seven  years 
of  Alfred’s  reign,  the  attacks  of  the  Danes  were  continual  and 
almost  his  whole  time  was  taken  up  in  trying  to  repel  them.  In 
878,  under  Guthrum,  the  Danes  were  so  successful  as  to  force 
Alfred  to  retreat  with  a  few  men  to  a  place  in  Somersetshire  called 
Athelney,  which  was  surrounded  by  almost  impenetrable  swamps. 
Here,  safe  from  his  foe,  he  was  able  to  arrange  the  union  of  his 
forces  for  an  attack  upon  the  enemy.  In  the  spring,  he  called  to¬ 
gether  his  men,  issued  from  his  retreat,  fell  upon  the  Danes  and 


ALFRED’S  ENGLAND 


27 


HOLY  ISLE 

^lindisfarne) 


DANfSH 

NORTFjUMDf 


/if  DoJU-haI 


*l{.tlu.n\hcr 


ANGLESEAf 


iWt'dmoiv 


Contnl^ury 


rTj\jiaiulun. 

'/ /V  //,/■/ / 


'Atl)«-!iu*y 


Exeifj 


.ISLE  OF 
WIGHT 


ALFKKD’S 

KXULAND 


Scale  of  English  MUee 


English  ^^3 

Varied 


.lyne 


Bristol  Channel 


Longitude  West  2  from  Greenwich 


28 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


defeated  them  at  Edington.  So  badly  worsted  were  they  that 
Guthrum  was  glad  to  make  peace  and  accept  the  religion  of  his 
conquerors.  Peace  was  arranged  at  a  place  in  Somersetshire 
called  Wedmore'.  By  this  treaty  it  was  agreed  that  England 
should  be  divided  between  the  English  and  the  Danes.  The 
division  line  was  to  run  along  the  Thames,  the  Lea,  and  the  Ouse 
rivers  to  Watling  Street,  and  along  this  highway  to  the  Welsh 
border.*  Apparently,  Alfred  had  lost  half  his  kingdom,  but  it  was 
not  really  so,  for  he  had  no  real  control  over  the  part  yielded 
to  the  Danes,  and  his  claim  was  a  source  of  weakness  rather 
than  of  strength.  That  part  over  which  the  Northmen  ruled  was 
called  Dane-lagh,  or  Danelaw,  because  it  was  subject  to  the  Danes. 

For  fifteen  years  there  was  little  fighting,  but  in  886  Alfred 
gained  London  and  the  country  immediately  surrounding  it.  In 
893  England  was  again  exposed  to  serious  danger  from  the  North¬ 
men,  under  Hasting,  a  noted  chief,  who,  at  the  head  of  a  band 
of  warriors,  attacked  Kent.  This  attack  gave  Alfred  the  chance 
to  call  upon  the  people  for  aid,  and  for  the  first  time  to  organize 
a  national  army.  By  his  skill  and  the  united  support  which  he 
received,  Alfred  was  able  to  repel  the  invaders.  But  he  saw 
that,  in  order  to  protect  his  dominions,  it  would  be  needful  to 
meet  the  Northmen  on  the  sea,  and  so  he  designed  vessels,  larger 
and  swifter  than  those  of  the  Northmen,  and  manned  them  with 
Danes  who  had  become  Englishmen  in  their  allegiance  and  inter¬ 
ests.  This  would  seem  to  be  the  beginning  of  England’s  navy. 

24.  Alfred’s  Peaceful  Reforms.  —  The  warlike  achievements 
of  Alfred  are  by  no  means  his  principal  claim  to  greatness. 
From  the  very  moment  of  his  accession,  Alfred  strove  to  benefit 
his  people.  “  He  is  the  first  instance  in  the  history  of  Christen¬ 
dom  of  a  ruler  who  put  aside  every  personal  aim  or  ambition  to 
devote  himself  wholly  to  the  welfare  of  those  over  whom  he 

1  It  is  not  possible  to  give  the  exact  limits  of  this  territory.  Beyond  the  river 
Tees,  part  of  Northumberland  remained  under  an  independent  English  king.  It 
was  called  Bernicia.  The  date  of  the  treaty  is  usually  given  878;  it  may  have  been 
a  few  years  later. 


THE  REIGN  OF  ALFRED 


29 


ruled.”  After  the  peace  of  Wedmore  he  devoted  himself  to  se¬ 
curing  good  government  for  his  country.  The  years  of  constant 
warfare  had  left  England  almost  without  law  and  order.  Alfred 
determined  to  restore  them.  Unlike  many 
reformers,  he  was  able  to  see  what  was  prac¬ 
ticable  under  existing  circumstances,  and  he 
aimed  to  secure  that.  He  took  the  laws  as 
they  were,  suggested  improvements,  and 
made  all  as  simple  as  possible.  He  says 
himself  in  his  preface  to  his  book  of  laws  : 

”  I,  then,  Alfred,  King,  gathered  these  [laws] 
together  and  commanded  many  of  those  to 
be  written  which  our  forefathers  held,  those 
which  to  me  seemed  good  ;  and  many 
which  seemed  to  me  not  good,  I  rejected 
them  by  the  counsel  of  my  witan  (§  38) ; 
for  I  durst  not  venture  to  set  down  in  writ¬ 
ing  much  of  my  own,  for  it  was  unknown  to 
me  what  of  it  would  please  those  who  should 
come  after  us.”  Many  of  these  laws  seem 
to  us  cruel  and  unjust,  for  they  were  based 
on  the  principle  of  retaliation;^  but  they 
were  suited  to  that  age,  and  were  the  be¬ 
ginning  of  the  idea  of  a  national  code  of 
laws.  He  did  all  in  his  power  to  make  the  administration  of 
justice  impartial,  and  severely  reproved  unjust  judges. 

25.  Alfred’s  Service  to  Literature  and  Education.  —  It  was  per¬ 
haps  in  education  and  literature  that  Alfred’s  work  was  most  last¬ 
ing.  The  literary  England  of  Alcuin  and  Bede  had  disappeared 


-  - 

Alfred  the  Great 
Statue  by  Thornycroft 


1  The  penalties  were  almost  always  reckoned  in  money :  30  shillings  was  the 
price  of  an  ear ;  and  60  shillings  if  the  hearing  was  impaired.  A  front  tooth  was 
8  shillings,  a  canine  tooth  4  shillings.  A  forefinger  was  worth  15  shillings.  If  a 
man  was  murdered,  his  family  could  have  revenge,  not,  as  in  the  older  days,  I)y 
the  forfeit  of  the  life  of  the  murderer,  but  by  the  payment  of  a  fine  called  were-gelj 
or  blood  money. 


30 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


under  the  ravages  of  the  Danes.  “  When  I  began  to  reign,” 
Alfred  says,  “  I  cannot  remember  one  south  of  the  Thames  who 
could  explain  his  service  book  in  English.”  Not  to  know  Latin 
was  to  be  cut  off  from  intercourse  with  the  learned  world,  for 
Latin  was  the  language  of  all  educated  men.  Alfred  set  about 


ITHSX  p/ESAgN 
N^LNINGArVl!?--: 

cnintanc  -ptnrcjv  rrucjtc  'JreoScn  u^cdrtn%a^’on 
jjy-coJiceo^tm  da^hiclcnd ^hacen'heoY^ 

■pcaj^-  Sjw.p£i  jyij’an  ati-.jtie  hfjtiieupfote  un 
-pjjicpeajii^crt^yop  ^  fc  hatctiJ 
Up'cymei^e|’»n<^e«J  ■  cm^an^bxm  dtCLC^j  cova  ^ 

nc'fopnuL  moriA^^inc  jolc  myceitonuajuu^  /<i**»*^  ^ 
^cjiwm  heam;  Xn3  Icej  cmhe  yrf  mm  jxcvce^jy^ 
pjlptinr  atJ  cccj' dp*nciJc-j--cx}iq-cf^ei  j>‘crtecf>€L 
yax  6fr^  ujv  eai^c-Iutle^haiXvj^f^fchMxiy on 
i}j^ciru^mjoXAin  /ten- ry/lce  ctnh  j»>pcjt  jtu 
care  picc  a  joitmon^ c*^ne-bumncp5i  ^  . 

mheutn^ya-hu  gccealdon^jchjtua^x^fcef:  — 

ppole  ca£c  <*. 

Reduced  Facsimile  from  MS.  of  Saxon  Chronicle 
After  a  copy  in  the  British  Museum 


dispelling  this  ignorance.  He  sent  for  learned  men  to  come  to 
his  court,  where  he  employed  them  in  writing  and  teaching. 
Some  of  these  were  Germans,  some  Welsh,  some  English  like 
Asser,  who  afterwards  wrote  a  biography  of  his  friend  and  patron. 
Alfred  established  schools  for  those  who  wished  to  learn  Latin  ;  but 
he  decided  that  those  who  could  not  speak  Latin  should  also  have 
the  opportunity  to  gain  knowledge.  So  he  himself  translated 
for  popular  use  Latin  works  on  history  and  geography.  When¬ 
ever  he  thought  the  accounts  in  these  works  were  not  full  enough, 
he  expanded  or  explained  them  or  made  comments.  But  this 
was  not  all.  He  wished  that  his  countrymen  should  know  about 
their  own  land,  so  he  translated  the  Church  Hisioty  of  Britain 


THE  REIGN  OF  ALFRED 


31 


written  by  Bede.  (§  18.)  It  is  not  unlikely  that  this  led  to  the 
compilation  or  writing  of  what  is  known  as  the  Anglo-Saxon 
Chronicle,  or  History  of  Britain  from  the  landing  of  Hengist  and 
Horsa  on  the  shores  of  Kent.  No  other  European  nation  has  in 
its  possession  so  early  a  record  written  in  its  own  tongue.  The 
Chronicle,  which  was  continued  after  .Alfred’s  death  down  to  the 
middle  of  the  twelfth  century,  was  the  work  of  monks  in  southern 
England.  It  varies  in  historic  value,  but  the  narrative  is  full  of 
life  and  vigor. 

Alfred  was  by  no  means  unmindful  of  the  religious  interests  of 
his  kingdom.  He  rebuilt  monasteries  and  churches,  and  ap¬ 
pointed  one  of  his  daughters  the  abbess  of  a  convent.  He  sent 
messengers  and  gifts  to  the  Pope  and  supported  religion  in  every 
way.  He  also  encouraged  the  industrial  arts  and  we  are  told  that 
he  instructed  “  his  workers  of  gold  and  artificers  of  all  kinds  ”  how 
to  work  to  the  best  advantage. 

Alfred  hatl  never  been  robust,  and  he  died  at  the  age  of  fifty-one 
or  fifty-two.^  He  was  a  man  whose  life  seems  almost  without  a 
blot,  to  whom  tradition  ascribes  no  evil  motive,  and  around  whose 
memory  nothing  but  good  has  clung.  “  England’s  Darling,” 

England’s  Shepherd,”  “  Alfred  the  Great,”  are  the  names  by 
which  he  is  known.  On  the  thousandth  anniversary  of  his  death 
(1901)  a  monument  was  dedicated  to  his  memory  at  Wantage, 
his  birthplace.  It  bears  this  inscription  :  — 

“Alfred  found  learning  dead. 

And  he  restored  it; 

Educatio.n  neglected, 

And  he  revived  it; 

The  laws  powerless. 

And  he  gave  them  force; 

The  church  debased, 

And  he  raised  it; 

The  land  ravaged  by  a  fearful  enemy, 

Fro.m  which  he  delivered  it.” 

1  The  exact  date  of  his  death  is  disputed.  It  may  have  been  899,  900,  or  901. 
The  latter  is  the  generally  accepted  date. 


32 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


Anglo-Saxon  Kings 

Egbert  1 

802-839 

Ethelwulf 

839-858 


Ethelbald  Ethelberht  Ethelred  I  Alfred 
858-860  860-866  866-871  871-901  (?) 


I  I 

Edward  I  Ethelflaed  =  Ethelred 

901-924  ("  Lady  of  Mercia  ”)  of  Mercia 


Ethei^tan  Edmund  I  Edrf.d 

924-940  940-946  946-955 


Edwy  Edgar 

955-959  959-975 


Edward  II  Ethelred  II  "  the  Unready  ” 

975-979  979-1016 

(i)=  Emma  of  Normandy  =  (2)  Cnut  of  Denmark 

1016-1035 

Edmund  "  Ironside"  Edward  f  i 

1016  "  the  Confessor "  Harold  Harthacnut 

I  1042-1066  1035-1039  1039-1042 

I - 1 

Edmund  Edward  "  Athling  " 


Edgar  “  Athling  ”  Margaret 

—  Malcolm  III  of  Scotland 

I 

Matilda 

=  Henry  I  of  England 

References.  —  Green,  Short  History,  i,  §§  5-6;  Gardiner,  Student's 
History,  chap,  iv;  Terry,  History,  Part  I,  chap,  iv  ;  Tout,  Advanced  History, 
chap,  v;  Grant  Allen,  Anglo  Saxon  Britain;  Johnson,  Normans  in  Europe, 
chaps,  i-iii;  Collingwood,  Scandinavian  Britain;  Cheyney,  Readings,  chzp%. 
v-vi;  Colby,  Selections,  §§  8-9;  Kendall,  Source-Book,  §§  6-7;  Lee, 
Source-Book,  chaps,  v-vi,  §§  26-39. 


i  The  names  of  those  who  reigned  are  printed  in  small  capitals. 


CHAPTER  IV 


ALFRED’S  SUCCESSORS.  DANISH  CONQUEST. 

NORMAN  CONQUEST 

26.  West  Saxon  Supremacy.  901-959. —  Alfred  died  in  901  (?), 
leaving  to  his  son  Edward  a  compact,  well-ordered  kingdom. 
The  Danes  in  Danelaw  were  by  no  means  so  well  united  as  the 
English  j  and,  moreover,  many  of  the  people  even  in  that  part  of 
the  country  were  English,  and  in  case  of  a  West  Saxon  success 
were  ready  to  sympathize  with  the  foes  of  the  Danes.  Edward, 
though  a  warrior,  would  have  continued  the  peaceful  policy  of  his 
father  had  he  not  been  compelled  to  take  the  field  against  the 
Danes  on  his  northern  border,  and  against  pirates  on  his  south¬ 
ern  coast.  He  set  about  the  conquest  of  Danelaw,  with  the  help 
of  his  able  and  brave  sister  Ethelflped,  the  “  Lady  of  Mercia,” 
who,  unfortunately,  died  before  success  crowned  his  efforts. ‘  By 
924  nearly  all  England  acknowledged  him  as  king,  while  the 
Scots  and  Britons  of  Strathclyde  and  Northumbria  crowned  him 
as  overlord. 

27.  Edgar  the  Peaceful.  Dunstan.  —  The  supremacy  of  the 
West  Saxons  was  continued  under  Edward’s  successors.  Of  these 
the  most  celebrated  is  Edgar,  who  reigned,  959-975.  Under  him 
England  was  so  quiet  that  he  received  the  name  of  “  the  Peace¬ 
ful.”  It  is  likely  that  most  of  the  success  of  Edgar’s  reign  is  due  to 
Dunstan  (924-988),  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  Like  Alfred, 
Dunstan  was  content  to  try  to  do  only  what  was  practicable,  and 
his  policy  was  one  of  conciliation.  The  Danes  were  allowed  to 

1  Ethclflccd,  or  Ethelfleda,  the  daughter  of  Alfred,  married  Ethelred,  ealdor- 
man  of  Mercia.  After  the  death  of  her  husband,  she  became  ruler  and  showed 
that  she  possessed  in  a  marked  degree  the  skill  and  ability  of  her  family. 

33 


34 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


keep  their  own  laws,  and  their  rulers  were  Danes  ;  while  over  the 
Welsh,  Welshmen  were  set  in  authority.  Edgar  was  also  an  ardent 
reformer.  He  did  much  for  education,  which  had  been  sadly 
neglected,  and  he  encouraged  changes  for  the  better  in  the 
church.  Commerce  was  revived,  and  it  was  in  his  reign  that  the 
foundation  of  London’s  commercial  greatness  was  laid. 

28.  Edward.  Ethelred  the  Unready.  Swegen.  New  Danish 
Invasions.  Edmund  Ironside.  Cnut  (1016-1035).  —  Edgar 
died  in  975,  leaving  young  sons,  and  it  was  not  unnatural 
that  the  nobles  should  quarrel  about  the  succession.  Through 
the  influence  of  Dunstan,  Edward,  the  elder  son,  was  chosen 
king  and  was  crowned  ;  but  after  a  reign  of  four  years  he  was 
murdered  and  his  half-brother  Ethelred,  a  boy  of  ten  or  twelve 
years,  was  chosen  to  succeed  him  (979).  Ethelred  has  come 
down  in  history  with  the  name  of  “Unready.”  The  word  really 
means  “  the  Rede-less,”  or  “  without  counsel.”  It  has  been  said 
of  him  that  “  he  was  entirely  without  the  qualities  which  befit  a 
king.  .  .  .  He  was  always  picking  quarrels  when  he  ought  to 
have  been  making  peace,  and  always  making  peace  when  he 
ought  to  have  been  fighting.”  His  long  reign  of  thirty-seven 
years  is  one  of  the  most  inglorious  in  English  annals. 

It  will  not  do  to  ascribe  all  the  evils  of  Ethelred’s  reign  to  his 
weakness.  All  Europe  was  in  a  state  of  transition  during  the 
tenth  century,  and  conditions  to  many  men  seemed  almost  hope¬ 
less.  “  Old  ties  were  loosening,  old  institutions  were  breaking 
down ;  everywhere  anarchy  was  taking  the  place  of  law.”  Dun¬ 
stan  had  seen  that  the  best  thing  for  England  was  the  strong  rule 
of  the  king,  and  he  had  helped  to  build  this  up.  Against  this, 
the  great  nobles  had  risen.  The  succession  of  the  young  sons  of 
Edgar  was  their  chance,  and  they  had  not  hesitated  to  avail 
themselves  of  it.  Deprived  of  a  strong  head,  the  country  found 
itself  unable  to  present  a  united  front  against  enemies.  The 
Danes  now  began  to  make  new  attacks.  Ethelred  bought  them 
off  again  and  again,  raising  the  money  by  a  tax  called  Danegeld ; 


ALFRED’S  SUCCESSORS 


35 


that  is,  Dane-money.  As  might  be  expected,  this  policy  brought 
more  Danes,  who  finally  came  in  numbers  too  great  to  be  bought  off. 
Swegen,  or  Sweyn,  the  Danish  king,  was  determined  to  conquer 
and  rule  in  England.  The  northern  part  of  England,  which  was  still 
Danish  in  feeling,  submitted  to  him,  but  the  south  was  not  gained 
without  a  severe  struggle.  Swegen  at  last  was  successful,  and  “  all 
the  people  held  him  for  full  king”  (1013).  Ethelred  fled  to  the 
court  of  the  Duke  of  Normandy,  whose  sister  Emma  he  had 
married.  The  next  year  (1014)  Swegen  died,  and  his  soldiers 
chose  his  son,  Cnut,'  to  be  king,  but  the  English  Witenagemote  ^ 
sent  word  to  Ethelred  inviting  him  to  return  ;  but  though  he  came 
back  and  resumed  the  throne,  his  authority  was  no  longer  un¬ 
questioned.  He  died  in  1016. 

Cnut  had  returned  to  Denmark,  and,  making  himself  king  in 
that  country,  had  collected  a  fleet  to  subdue  England.  As  soon 
as  his  ships  appeared,  many  of  the  English  submitted  to  him. 
Ethelred’s  son  and  natural  successor,  Edmund,  had  shown 
himself  so  able  a  warrior  that  he  received  the  name  of  Iron¬ 
side.  Cnut,  however,  disputed  Edmund’s  claim,  and  “a  year 
of  battles  ”  (1016)  followed  without  decisive  results.  The  two 
claimants  then  agreed  to  divide  the  land  between  them,  Edmund 
taking  Wessex.  Edmund  died  late  in  1016,®  and  Cnut  became 
king  of  England. 

29.  Cnut.  1016-1035.  —  Cnut  has  come  down  in  history 
with  the  title  of  Great,  and  he  deserves  it.  Like  some  other 
monarchs  who  have  come  to  power  in  rough  times,  or  by 
questionable  means,  he  does  not  seem  to  have  been  naturally 
cruel.  He  spared  no  one  whom  he  considered  dangerous,  but 
when  such  were  out  of  the  way,  he  was  moderate,  just,  and  even 

1  This  name  is  spelled  Cnut,  Knut,  and  Canute,  the  last  being  the  one  by  which 
he  is  familiarly  known.  The  accent  should  be  on  the  last  syllable. 

2  The  Witenagemote,  or  Council  of  Wise  Men.  (§  38.) 

8  At  the  time  of  his  death  Edmund  was  about  twenty-three,  and  his  rival  about 
twenty-two.  It  is  charged  by  later  historians  that  Edmund  was  murdered,  but  con¬ 
temporary  writers  make  no  such  assertion. 


36 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


gentle.  He  introduced  the  practice  of  having  a  bodyguard. 
This,  which  protected  him  from  the  attack  of  any  of  the  nobles  as 
well  as  from  an  open  foe,  was  the  nucleus  of  a  standing  army. 
He  divided  England  into  great  districts,^  over  each  of  which  he 
placed  an  officer  called  an  Earl  (from  the  Danish  Jarl). 


Cnut  appointed  Englishmen  to  many  of  these  positions,  thereby 
binding  them  to  himself  and  avoiding  the  appearance  of  foreign 
rule.  His  kingdom  did  not  extend  beyond  the  Tweed,  but  the 
Scottish  king  acknowledged  him  as  overlord.  He  conquered 
Norway  and  gained  Denmark  at  his  brother’s  death.  Thus  his 
dominions  were  more  extensive  than  those  of  any  king  of  England 
before  him.  Upon  his  marriage  with  Emma,  the  widow  of  Ethel- 
red,  friendly  relations  were  established  with  Normandy. 

Though  his  continental  possessions  were  larger  than  his  English 
holdings,  he  favored  the  latter.  He  is  said  to  have  restored  the 
laws  of  Edgar,  and  he  was  a  considerate  and  wise  monarch  as 
well  as  a  strong  one.  He  reverenced  religion  and  went  on  a 
pilgrimage  to  Rome.  From  that  city  he  wrote  to  his  subjects  : 
“  I  have  vowed  to  God  to  live  a  right  life  in  all  things ;  to  rule 
justly  and  piously  my  realms  and  subjects,  and  to  administer  just 

iThe  principal  divisions  were  Mercia,  Northumberland,  and  Wessex,  which 
included  Kent.  East  Anglia  was  a  fourth,  but  the  boundaries  of  this  varied. 
There  were  at  times  other  earldoms  set  up,  as  seemed  to  be  needful. 


ALFRED’S  SUCCESSORS 


37 


Judgment  to  all.  If,  heretofore,  I  have  done  aught  beyond  what 
is  just,  through  headiness  or  negligence  of  youth,  I  am  ready,  with 
God’s  help,  to  amend  it  utterly.”  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt 
that  he  meant  exactly  what  he  said.  He  died  in  1035,^  to  the 
great  grief  of  his  people. 

30.  Harthacnut  and  Harold  ;  Edward  the  Confessor  ;  Godwin. 
1035-1066.  —  Cnut’s  two  sons,  Harthacnut  and  Harold,  were  un¬ 
worthy  of  their  father ;  England  was  again  troubled  with  civil  war 
and  the  kingdom  fell  apart.  The  succession  was  disputed ; 
Harthacnut  was  recognized  in  the  south,  and  Harold  in  the  north. 
But  as  Harthacnut,  who  was  in  Denmark,  remained  there,  he  was 
deposed  by  the  people,  who  gave  their  allegiance  to  Harold, 
who  thus  secured  the  kingdom.  At  Harold’s  death,  Harthacnut 
became  king.  Both  these  men  were  rude,  barbarous  rulers,  and 
the  whole  country  was  glad  to  be  rid  of  them. 

Through  the  influence  of  Earl  Godwin,  the  most  powerful 
English  nobleman,  Edward,  the  son  of  Ethelred  and  the  Norman 
Emma,  was  chosen  king.  Known  as  “  the  Confessor,”  because  of 
his  piety,  he  probably  would  have  made  an  excellent  private  citi¬ 
zen,  but  he  was  an  unwise  king.  He  had  passed  almost  all  his 
earlier  years  at  the  Norman  court  and  was  a  thorough  Norman  in 
all  his  tastes.  He  filled  his  court  with  Normans  and  bestowed  on 
them  all  the  positions  that  he  could.  Though  he  married 
Godwin’s  daughter,  his  Norman  tastes  and  his  favoritism  brought 
about  strife  between  him  and  the  stanch  English  earl.  After 
nine  years,  Godwin  and  his  family  were  forced  to  fly  to  the 
Continent,  and  Edward’s  wife  was  sent  to  a  nunnery  (1051). 
The  next  year  Godwin  came  back,  the  tide  of  popular  feeling 
turned  in  his  favor,  and  many  of  the  Norman  favorites  of  Edward 
were  banished.  The  same  year  Godwin  died  and  his  place  was 
taken  by  Harold,  one  of  his  sons.  Edward  was  under  the  in¬ 
fluence  of  Godwin’s  family  for  the  rest  of  his  reign.  Edward 
died  in  January,  1066,  leaving  no  children. 

1  The  date  of  Cnut’s  birth  is  not  known ;  it  was  probably  not  earlier  than  994. 


38 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


31.  Harold  II.  1066.  —  As  Edward  left  no  direct  heirs 
the  choice  of  a  king  fell  lawfully  upon  the  Witenagemote,  or 
national  assembly.  This  body  chose  Harold  Godwinson,  who  was 
a  skillful  warrior  and  an  able  man.  There  was  no  one  in  England 
better  fitted  for  the  position.  “  He  set  himself,”  says  one  of  the 
old  chronicles,  “  to  remove  unjust  laws,  and  to  devise  good  ones 
.  .  .  ;  he  showed  himself  dutiful,  courteous  and  kindly  to  all 
good  men,  but  a  terror  to  ill  doers  .  .  .  and  set  himself  ener¬ 
getically  to  provide  for  the  defense  of  the  country  by  land  and 
sea.”  ^ 

Harold’s  brief  reign  was  chiefly  taken  up  with  efforts  to  retain 
his  crown.  His  first  difficulties  were  due  to  foes  of  his  own  house¬ 
hold,  for  his  brother,  Tostig,  who  had  been  deprived  of  the  earl¬ 
dom  of  Northumbria,  had  allied  himself  with  a  fierce  sea-rover, 
and  was  trying  to  recover  his  earldom  by  force.  The  armies 
met  at  Stamford  Bridge  in  Yorkshire,  and  Tostig  was  defeated. 
Three  days  after  the  battle,  a  new  foe  landed  on  the  south  coast 
of  England,  and  Harold  with  all  the  forces  he  could  collect 
marched  south  to  meet  him.  This  new  foe  was  William,  Duke 
of  Normandy. 

Norman  Dukes 

Rollo 

I 

William  "  Longsword  ’ 

927-942 

I 

Richard  I 
942-996 


Richard  II  Emma 

996-1026  =  (i)  Ethelred  "  the  Unready  " 

I  (2)  Cnut,  the  Dane 

Richard  III  Robert  "the  Devil” 

1026-1028  1028-1035 

,  William  the  Conqueror 

1066-1087  (king  of  England) 


1  Florence  of  Worcester;  1066. 


WILLIAM  THE  CONQUEROR 


39 


32.  William  the  Norman.  1066.  —  William,  a  descendant 
of  Rollo,  the  Northman  (§  20),  born  in  1027,  was  the  son 
of  Robert  “  the  Devil  ”  and  a  tanner’s  daughter,  and  succeeded 
to  the  dukedom  of  Normandy  when  a  boy.  William  was  a 
man  of  extraordinary  ability.  “  There  was  never  a  moment 
from  his  boyhood  when 
he  was  not  among  the 
greatest  of  men.  His 
life  was  one  long  mas¬ 
tering  of  difficulty  after 
difficulty.  .  ,  .  The 
very  spirit  of  the  ‘  sea- 
wolves  ’  .  .  .  seemed 
embodied  in  his  gigan¬ 
tic  form,  his  enormous 
strength,  his  savage 
countenance,  his  des¬ 
perate  bravery,  the 
fury  of  his  wrath,  the 
ruthlessness  of  his  re¬ 
venge.”  Notwith¬ 
standing  this  inherit¬ 
ance  from  his  Scan¬ 
dinavian  forefathers,  he 
was  a  friend  to  learn¬ 
ing,  a  supporter  of  the  church,  and  a  statesman. 

William  claimed  the  crown  of  England  as  soon  as  he  heard  of 
the  death  of  Edward  the  Confessor.  He  based  his  claim  chiefly 
on  two  circumstances :  first,  that  when  he  had  visited  England, 
Edward  had  promised  him  the  crown ;  and  second,  so  William 
asserted,  that  when  Harold  some  years  before  had  been  ship¬ 
wrecked  on  the  coast  of  France,  he  had  sworn  to  William,  in  order 
to  regain  his  liberty,  that  he  would  support  the  latter’s  claim  to 
the  crown  on  Edward’s  death. 


Tomb  of  Edward  the  Confessor 
Westminster  Abbey 


40 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


Strictly  speaking,  William  claimed  rather  the  right  of  present¬ 
ing  himself  to  the  Witenagemote  for  election,  as  commended-  by 
Edward  the  Confessor.  Harold’s  election  he  regarded  as  invalid. 
Besides  this,  he  claimed  to  be  acting  for  the  church,  for  the  Nor¬ 
man  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  had  been  displaced  and  another 
consecrated  by  an  antipope,’  had  been  put  in  his  place.  To 
attack  England,  therefore,  was  to  uphold  the  laws  of  the  church. 
However  plausible  these  reasons  might  seem  to  men  on  the  Conti¬ 
nent,  they  had  no  weight  in  England,  and  doubtless  to  William 
himself  they  were  merely  put  forth  as  pretexts  for  a  war  of  con¬ 
quest  on  which  he  was  resolved.  According  to  English  law  and 
custom,  the  crown  was  not  Edward’s  to  promise,  nor  could  Harold 
control  the  choice  of  the  Witenagemote. 

33.  Norman  Invasion ;  Battle  of  Hastings  ;  William  becomes 
King.  1066.  — The  Norman  subjects  of  William  felt  little  eager¬ 
ness  to  support  him  in  an  invasion  of  England,  but  he  was  not  a 
man  to  be  hindered  by  small  obstacles.  During  the  whole  summer 
of  1066  he  was  building  ships  and  collecting  forces  for  his  great 
enterprise,  not  only  from  Normandy  but  from  other  countries  also.' 
He  sailed  from  Normandy  with  a  large  fleet,  and  landed  (September 
28,  1066)  at  Pevensey,  on  the  south  coast,  not  far  from  Hastings. 

Harold  hurried  from  the  north  to  meet  his  antagonist.  Had 
he  been  supported  by  a  united  England,  it  is  possible  that 
William  might  have  been  repulsed,  but  some  of  the  powerful 
earls  held  aloof.  The  armies  met  at  Senlac  hill  near  Hastings, 
October  14,  1066.  The  battle  was  stubbornly  contested,  and  it 
was  not  until  sundown  when  Harold,  pierced  by  an  arrow  in  his 
right  eye,  fell  dead,  that  the  English  were  defeated.  But  the 
country  was  not  yet  conquered.  The  Witenagemote  at  London, 

1  An  antipope  was  one  who  claimed  to  be  the  Pope,  but  whose  claim  was  dis¬ 
puted. 

2  The  fact  that  many  of  his  followers  were  not  Normans  may  partly  explain  the 
reason  why  William  gave  his  followers  so  much  land.  They  were  actuated  by 
mercenary  motives  and  demanded  their  reward.  William  was  compelled  to  seize 
and  confiscate  much  property. 


THE  NORMAN  CONQUEST 


41 


on  receiving  the  news  of  Harold’s  death,  elected  Edgar  Atheling, 
grandson  of  Edmund  Ironside,  as  king.  William  marched  on 
London,  and  cutting  it  off  from  communication  with  the  rest  of 
the  country,  had  it  at  his  mercy.  On  this,  Edgar  and  those  who 
had  chosen  him,  yielded  to  William ;  another  meeting  of  the 
Witenagemote  was  held,  and  William  was  chosen  king.  He  was 
crowned  on  Christmas  Day,  1066,  in  the  abbey  recently  built  by 
Edward  the  Confessor  at  Westminster.' 


Part  of  the  Battle  of  Hastings 

Normans  on  the  left  and  English  on  the  right.  After  the  Bayeux  Tapestry.^ 


34.  The  Normans  and  their  Influence.  —  It  is  generally  claimed 
that  the  success  of  William  was  the  best  thing  for  England.®  But 
this  view  is  open  to  question.  It  is  true  that  the  Normans 

1  This  was  not  the  abbey  now  at  Westminster,  which  was  built  later.  Since 
William’s  time,  with  but  few  exceptions,  all  English  sovereigns  have  been  crowned 
at  Westminster. 

2  One  of  the  most  interesting  authorities  for  the  Norman  Conquest  is  the 
Bayeux  Tapestry,  preserved  for  many  years  in  the  cathedral  of  Bayeux,  Nor¬ 
mandy,  and  now  to  be  seen  in  the  Bayeux  Museum.  It  is  a  strip  of  coarse  linen 
cloth  230  feet  gj  inches  long  by  igl  inches  wide.  It  is  embroidered  in  worsted 
thread  of  eight  different  colors,  and  the  scenes  illustrate  the  history  of  the  Norman 
Conquest.  The  style  of  the  weapons  and  clothing  is  that  of  the  twelfth  century, 
which  would  make  the  date  of  the  tapestry  between  1150  and  1200.  A  full-sized 
colored  reproduction  is  in  the  South  Kensington  Museum,  London,  and  another 
is  in  Memorial  Hall,  Fairmount  Park,  Philadelphia.  There  is  a  colored  facsimile 
in  book  form  with  history  and  notes  by  Hilaire  Belloc,  London,  1914. 

3  It  must  not  be  overlooked  that  most  of  our  authorities  for  the  history  of  the 
conquest  are  Norman. 


42 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


brought  organization,  a  strong  central  government,  and  a  closer 
intercourse  with  the  Continent.  But  these  benefits  might  have 
come  in  some  other  way.  Harold  was  “wise,  merciful,  and 
stronghanded,”  and  there  is  good  reason  for  thinking  that  he  would 
have  ruled  after  the  pattern  of  Alfred  or  of  the  later  years  of 
Cnut.  It  will  not  do  to  assume  that  he  would  not  have  been  able 
to  bring  order  out  of  the  chaos.  Very  much  that  was  gained  by 
the  mixture  of  Norman  character  might  have  come  through  the 
slower  but  more  peaceful  means  of  trade  and  normal  intercourse 
with  the  Continent.  So  far  as  civilization  is  concerned,  the  Eng¬ 
lish  were  ahead  of  the  Normans.  They  had  a  superior  literature 
of  their  own  ;  they  were  skilled  in  the  illumination  of  manuscripts, 
in  weaving,  goldsmith’s  work,  and  other  arts.  They  were  familiar 
with  the  natural  sciences,  the  medicine,  and  the  grammar  of  their 
day.  In  architecture  also  they  were  abreast  of  the  times.  Only 
in  political  development  and  organization  do  they  seem  to  have 
been  lacking.  Even  for  political  development  it  can  hardly  be 
doubted  that  the  prolonged  rule  of  men  whose  chief  interests 
lay  in  France  was  in  many  ways  hurtful.  They  involved  England 
in  long,  expensive,  and  destructive  wars  in  which  the  English  had 
little  if  anything  to  gain,  and  they  must  have  checked  to  a  con¬ 
siderable  degree  that  development  under  national  influences  which 
would  have  been  England’s  lot.  They  did  not  even  give  England 
permanent  order,  for  no  Anglo-Saxon  period  equals  in  anarchy  the 
reign  of  Stephen  ;  nor  did  they  guard  personal  liberty,  for  the 
tyranny  of  William  Rufus,  or  John,  or  even  of  Henry  I,  is  un¬ 
matched  in  Anglo-Saxon  annals.  The  undoubted  benefits  of  Nor¬ 
man  rule  were  gained  at  a  great  cost.  William  was  a  conqueror, 
pure  and  simple,  and  what  he  did  he  did  from  selfish  motives. 

References.  — Green,  Short  History,  chap,  i  ,  §  6-chap,  ii,  §  4;  Gardiner, 
Student's  chaps,  v-vi;  Terry,  History,  Part  I,  chap,  v-  Part  II,  chap, 

i;  Tout,  Advanced  History,  chaps,  vi-viii;  Grant  Allen,  Anglo-Saxon  Britain  ; 
Johnson,  Hormans  in  Europe,  chaps,  viii-xii;  Cheyney,  Readings,  chaps,  v- 
vi;  Colby,  Selections,  §§  10-13;  Kendall,  Source-Book,  §§  8-13;  Lee,  Source- 
Book,  chap,  vi,  §  40-chap,  vii,  §  45. 


CHAPTER  V 


ENGLAND  AT  THE  TIME  OF  THE  NORMAN  CONQUEST 

35.  Old  English  Domestic  Life.  —  By  the  middle  of  the  eleventh 
century  English  life  and  customs  had  become  well  established. 
England  was  primarily  an  agricultural  country,  whose  people,  for 
mutual  protection,  lived  in  villages.  The  cottages  of  which  these 
villages  were  composed  had  but  one  story  and  generally  but  one 
room.  The  walls  were  made  of  poles  or  branches  of  trees  woven 
somewhat  like  a  basket,  and  then  covered  with  mud  or  plaster. 
The  roof  was  thatched  with  straw.  The  floor  was  of  earth,  and 
in  the  single  room  was  a  rough  table,  two  or  three  benches,  and  a 
litter  of  straw  for  a  bed.  Sometimes  a  place  would  be  partitioned 
off  for  a  sleeping  apartment,  but  usually  the  inmates  would  throw 
themselves  upon  the  straw  for  the  night  in  the  common  room  with¬ 
out  undressing,  for  night  garments  are  the  product  of  a  later  age. 

Poultry,  pigs,  and  other  domestic  animals  came  in  and  out  of 
the  house  pretty  much  as  they  pleased,  especially  in  wet  or  cold 
weather.  There  were  no  chimneys,  and  when  it  was  practicable, 
cooking  was  done  out  of  doors ;  at  other  times  the  smoke  found 
its  way  through  a  hole  in  the  roof  or  where  it  could.  Wood  was 
the  fuel  used.  The  waste  and  offal  were  thrown  out  without  regard 
to  neatness  or  health,  for  drainage  and  sanitary  arrangements  of  all 
kinds  were  unknown. 

Near  the  cottage  was  a  small  field  where  vegetables  were  raised 
for  the  family.  Pork,  poultry,  eggs,  vegetables,  fruit,  and  cheese 
were  the  usual  diet,  to  which  must  be  added  ale  and  beer.  The 
English  were  great  meat  eaters ;  bread,  though  not  uncommon, 
was  often  costly  owing  to  frequent  bad  crops,  while  from  the 

43 


44 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


difficulty  of  transportation,  grain  could  not  be  brought  from  other 
neighborhoods  where  there  might  be  an  abundant  supply. 

The  dwellings  of  the  better  class  were  generally  of  timber. 
They  were  usually  surrounded  by  an  embankment  or  wall  of  earth, 
which  itself  was  protected  on  the  outside  by  a  moat  or  ditch. 
The  building  was  often  of  but  one  story.  A  large  hall  with  a  high 
roof  was  the  most  conspicuous  feature.  Here  great  feasts  were 
held,  and  it  was  the  common  meeting  place  of  the  family.  A  long 
table  occupied  a  prominent  place  ;  at  the  raised  upper  end  the  lord 
and  lady  and  favored  guests  sat.  Round  the  walls  were  benches 
used  at  meals  and  sometimes  for  couches  at  night,  though  perhaps 
the  ground  was  oftener  the  resting  place.  On  the  walls  hung 
curtains  embroidered  by  the  women,  and  on  pegs  hung  imple¬ 
ments  of  the  chase,  arms  and  armor.  A  fire  in  the  middle  of 
the  hall  afforded  heat  and  also  light,  though  candles  were  some¬ 
times  used.  Meals  were  breakfast,  often  about  five ;  dinner, 
usually  at  noon,  though  sometimes  as  early  as  nine,  or  as  late  as 
three  o’clock;  and  supper.^  There  was  often  a  tablecloth,  and  a 
scanty  supply  of  knives  ■  and  spoons,  but  the  fingers  were  generally 
used.  There  was  a  saying,  “  Set  never  on  fish,  flesh,  or  fowl  more 
than  two  fingers  and  a  thumb.”  Even  in  wealthy  homes  pieces  of 
bread  not  infrequently  took  the  place  of  plates.  Food  was  plentiful, 
consisting,  besides  vegetables,  of  mutton,  pork,  poultry,  fish,  eels, 
cheese,  and  honey.  Tea  and  coffee  were  unknown,  and  honey 
took  the  place  of  the  expensive  sugar  of  that  day. 

There  was  much  hard  drinking  and  coarse  revelry,  especially 

1  An  old  French  rime,  although  of  a  somewhat  later  period,  probably  repre¬ 
sents  this  period  also :  — 

Lever  A  cinque,  diner  d  neuf, 

Souper  4  cinque,  couchcr  A  neuf. 

Fait  vivre  d’ans  nonante  et  neuf. 

Or  in  English :  — 

To  rise  at  five,  to  dine  at  nine. 

To  sup  at  five,  to  bed  at  nine. 

Makes  a  man  live  to  ninety  and  nine. 

*  Forks  did  not  come  into  general  use  until  about  i6io. 


ENGLAND  IN  THE  TENTH  CENTURY 


45 


after  the  ladies  had  retired.  Feasts  were  enlivened  by  the  songs 
and  music  of  wandering  minstrels,  harpers,  and  musicians  of 
various  kinds,  and  by  jugglers  and  jesters. 

Lower  roofed  rooms  for  the  family,  and  particularly  for  the 
women,  were  ranged  along  the  side  walls,  with  entrances  some¬ 
times  from  the  courtyard.  Here,  too,  was  the  “ladies’  bower,” 
used  both  as  a  living  and  a  sleeping  room.  The  couches  were 
often  in  recesses  hidden  by  curtains,  and  were  well  furnished  with 


Thk  Great  Hall  in  an  English  Noble’s  House  in  the  Tenth  Century 

pillows,  bolsters,  and  coverings.  There  were  stools  and  a  table, 
but  rarely  chairs.  Besides  all  this  there  were  storerooms,  kitchens, 
and  other  apartments.  Glazed  windows  were  almost  unknown, 
and  board  shutters  kept  out  rain  and  wind.  The  walls  were  of 
such  poor  construction  that  the  hangings  were  not  so  much  for 
ornament  as  to  keep  out  draughts. 

Linen  and  woolen  materials  were  used  for  clothing,  which  in 
general  was  simple.  The  men  wore  next  the  body  a  close-fitting 
tunic  reaching  to  the  knees  ;  over  this  was  a  short  cloak  fastened 
with  a  brooch  on  the  breast  or  right  shoulder.  The  legs  were 


46 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


covered  with  tight  breeches ;  leather  stockings,  above  which  was 
wound  something  like  a  bandage,  and  long,  black,  pointed  shoes 
completed  the  attire.  The  women  wore  a  long  gown,  and  over  it 
a  tunic  with  flowing  sleeves,  and  above  this  a  kind  of  mantle 
reaching  nearly  to  the  feet.  A  hood  often  of  great  length  covered 
the  head.  The  women  wore  their  hair  short  and  curled,  while 
the  men  wore  theirs  long,  parted  in  the  middle,  and  hanging  be¬ 
hind  the  ears.  Both  men  and  women  were  fond  of  jewelry. 

Among  the  upper  classes  hunting,  hawking,  archery,  and  trials 
of  athletic  skill  were  common,  the  first  two  being  the  favorites. 
Chess,  checkers,  the  feats  of  jugglers,  songs  and  music  were  their 
indoor  amusements. 

36.  Architecture ;  Towns.  —  In  early  days  even  the  churches 
were  built  of  wood,  but  by  the  close  of  the  tenth  century  these 
were  often,  if  not  usually,  constructed  of  stone,  and  by  1066 
England  had  a  well-developed  and  characteristic  architecture. 
The  abbey  church  at  Westminster  built  by  Edward  the  Confessor 
was  equal  at  the  time  to  anything  on  the  continent.' 

For  many  years  towns  were  few,  but  by  the  beginning  of  the 
eleventh  century  they  had  increased  in  number.  The  buildings  in 
these,  except  the  church,  were  of  wood  and  suffered  much  from 
fires.  A  town  was  surrounded  by  an  earthen  wall,  a  stockade, 
and  a  ditch.  Sanitary  measures  were  unknown,  and  diseases  when 
they  appeared  made  great  ravages  among  the  inhabitants.  There 
was  usually  a  market  and  some  trade.  But  many  of  the  inhabi¬ 
tants  were  farmers  who  came  to  the  town  at  night  and  at  other 
times  for  protection.  Some  of  the  towns  grew  up  in  the  neighbor¬ 
hood  of  the  great  monasteries,  as  at  Lichfield ;  others,  such  as 
London,  Chester,  York,  and  Lincoln,  were  successors  of  the  old 
Roman  cities.  In  these  towns  there  naturally  grew  up  different 
industries,  such  as  weaving,  carving,  working  in  wood  and  metal 
and  leather,  making  jewelry,  and  other  arts ;  when  the  town  was 
on  or  near  the  sea,  fishing  and  commerce  sprung  up. 

1  It  was  destroyed  by  Henry  III  in  1275,  to  make  room  for  the  present  abbey. 


ENGLAND  AT  THE  TIME  OF  THE  NORMAN  CONQUEST  47 


37.  Land;  Classes. —  About  half  the  surface  of  England  was 
occupied  by  forests,  heaths,  and  marsh  or  fen  land.  The  forests 
afforded  hunting  for  the  kings  and  nobles,  and  in  them  too  were 
large  herds  of  swine  which  fed  on  acorns,  etc.  Agriculture  was 
mostly  confined  to  the  lower  lands.  The  population  at  the  time 
of  the  Norman  Conquest  has  been  estimated  at  about  1,500,000. 
London  had  about  10,000 ;  York  and  Winchester  each  about 
5000.  The  system  of  landholding  even  by  the  middle  of  the 
tenth  century  had  not  become  uniform  in  England.  The  northern 


Militaky,  Civil,  and  Ecclesiastical  Costumes  in  the  Eleventh  Centuby 

part  was  still  a  country  of  freeholders,  men  who  owned  their 
land  and  in  local  affairs  practically  ruled  themselves.  In  the 
southern  counties  or  shires  the  feudal  system,  or  a  modification 
of  it,  prevailed.  Land  was  held  on  condition  of  a  service  of  some 
kind  to  the  king,  the  nobles,  or  the  church.  This  service  was 
called  trinoda  necessitas,  or  threefold  duty,  which  was  to  serve 
in  the  army  or  navy,  repair  roads  and  bridges,  and  keep  up  the 
defenses  of  the  country. 

The  land  was  divided  into  folkland,  or  “  land  held  by  common 
right  without  written  evidence  of  ownership,”  and  “  bookland,”  or 
land  over  which  the  owner  had  full  power  or  disposition  by  will, 
and  his  right  to  which  rested  on  some  ‘  book  ’  or  written  document, 
not  on  folk  right, and  immemorial  custom.”  The  natural  tendency 
was  to  change  folkland  into  bookland,  and  for  the  freemen  to  give 


48 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


up  their  land  to  some  powerful  landholder  by  the  owners  “com¬ 
mending  ”  themselves  to  his  protection  and  then  receiving  the 
land  back  again  on  condition  of  rendering  feudal  service. 

Besides  folkland  and  bookland  there  was  loanland.  This  was 
land  lent,  not  given,  and  the  man  to  whom  it  was  lent  paid 
rent  for  it,  or  rendered  some  specified  service.  The  time  of  the 
loan  was  fixed  by  agreement,  and  often  was  for  the  period  of  the 
borrower’s  life  and  that  of  two  others.  This  method  was  the  fore¬ 
runner  of  the  more  modern  lease. 

The  early  English  people  were  divided  into  the  eorls  or  nobles 
and  ceorls  or  freemen,  and  besides  these  there  were  slaves.  Later 
these  classes  became  subdivided,  and  the  distinction  lay  in  rank 
rather  than  blood.  There  was  the  athling,  or  member  of  the  royal 
family ;  eorl  ^  or  eoldorman,  or  ruler  of  one  or  more  shires  ;  thegn, 
originally  the  personal  follower  of  the  king,  then  also  of  an  eorl  or 
any  powerful  man. 

Thegns  might  or  might  not  possess  lands  of  their  own,  and  they 
often  received  gifts  of  land  from  their  lord.  It  is  easy  to  see  that 
these  thegns  would  naturally  have  great  opportunities  for  advance¬ 
ment.  Below  these  grades  of  society  were  the  smaller  owners  of 
property,  the  freemen  who  had  no  property,  and  last  of  all  the 
theows,  or  slaves.  The  tendency  had  been  for  the  nobles  to 
become  more  and  more  powerful,  and  for  the  lower  and  poorer 
classes  to  become  less  and  less  independent,  owing  to  the  neces¬ 
sity  which  they  felt  of  having  protection.  In  fact,  if  a  man  did 
not  own  land  he  was  compelled  to  have  a  noble  to  answer  for  him 
in  the  courts.  Men  in  extreme  poverty  would  sell  themselves  for 
the  sake  of  obtaining  food  and  clothing,  or  to  satisfy  urgent  cred¬ 
itors.  Women  held  a  high  place,  superior  to  that  among  the 
Normans.  In  England  women,  others  than  those  of  high  rank, 
could  be  landowners,  could  make  wills,  and  when  becoming 
widows  had  a  right  to  a  share  of  their  husband’s  property ;  and 
they  had  much  influence  in  society. 


1  Afterward  known  as  earl. 


ENGLAND  AT  THE  TIME  OF  THE  NORMAN  CONQUEST  49 


38.  Government;  Kings;  Witenagemote. — The  central  power 
was  vested  in  a  king,  whose  power  had  been  steadily  growing. 
The  king  was  usually  chosen  from  the  royal  family,  and  if  of  suit¬ 
able  age,  the  eldest  son  of  the  late  king  was  elected.  The  choice 
was  made  by  the  great  eoldormen  and  ecclesiastics  of  the  country 
acting  together  in  a  council  known  as  the  Witenagemote. 

The  word  Witenagemote  means  literally  the  council  of  the  Wise 
Men.  It  was  composed  of  the  eorls,  archbishops,  bishops,  chief 
abbots,  and  sometimes  subject  princes,  and  later  the  athlings,  and 


After  a  manuscript  of  the  eleventh  century 

thegns  of  the  kings.  It  answered  in  many  respects  to  the  modern 
Parliament,  though  it  was  not  a  representative  body.  It  ratified 
the  king’s  grant  of  lands,  approved  laws,  civil  as  well  as  ecclesiasti¬ 
cal  ;  levied  taxes  ;  granted  land  ;  and  was  the  court  of  final  appeal. 
It  elected  and  could  depose  a  monarch.  Its  power  varied  with 
the  character  of  the  king.  Under  a  weak  monarch  its  power  was 
often  great ;  under  a  strong  one  but  little.  The  great  weakness 
both  of  the  Witenagemote  and  the  kings  lay  in  the  inability  to 
enforce  laws. 

39.  Shires  ;  Hundreds  ;  Townships.  —  The  country  was  divided 
into  shires  or  counties.  In  the  south  these  were  generally  the 
ancient  petty  kingdoms,  as  Kent,  Sussex,  Surrey,  while  in  the  north 
the  names  sometimes  followed  the  name  of  the  people,  as  Norfolk 
(north  folk)  and  Suffolk  (south  folk) ;  others  took  their  name 
from  the  chief  town,  as  Yorkshire,  and  Lincolnshire ;  while  others 
had  other  origins.  At  first  an  eorl  was  placed  over  each  shire ; 


50 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


but  later  an  eorl  often  governed  several.  In  the  later  Saxon  times 
there  was  in  addition  another  officer  appointed  by  the  king,  called 
shirereeve.^  His  duty  was  to  represent  the  king.  He  collected 
taxes  and  in  general  was  the  executive  officer. 

The  shires  were  subdivided  into  hundreds,  called  in  the  north¬ 
ern  counties  wapentakes,  and  each  hundred  was  divided  into 
townships. 

40.  Justice.  —  Each  shire  and  hundred  had  its  mote  or  court ; 
that  of  tlie  shire  was  held  generally  twice  a  year,  and  that  of  the 
hundred  monthly.  The  laws  were  usually  simple  and  based  on 
custom.  Almost  every  offense  could  be  atoned  for  by  a  money 
payment,  part  of  which  went  to  the  injured  man  or  his  family, 
and  part  to  the  king.  A  person  charged  before  the  mote  with 
crime  could  defend  himself  in  two  ways ;  either  by  compurgation, 
that  is  by  bringing  before  the  court  a  satisfactory  number  of 
persons  called  compurgators,  who  would  take  an  oath  that  the 
oath  taken  by  the  accused  was  true.  If  the  accused  could  not 
produce  these,  he  was  allowed  to  appeal  to  the  ordeal.  This  was 
to  tread  on  red  hot  plowshares,  or  handle  red  hot  iron,  or  thrust 
his  hand  into  boiling  water,  and  if  he  could  show,  after  a  fixed 
number  of  days,  that  he  had  received  no  injury,  then  he  was  con¬ 
sidered  to  be  guiltless.^ 

41.  The  Church ;  Monasteries.  —  In  the  first  half  of  the  eleventh 
century  there  was  an  absence  of  zeal  in  the  church  and  in  the  mon¬ 
asteries.  The  connection  with  Rome  was  formal  rather  than  real. 
One  great  reason  for  the  lack  of  religious  life  was  the  fact  that  the 
archbishops,  bishops,  and  abbots  took  far  more  interest  in  political 
affairs  than  in  religious  matters.  They  sat  in  the  Witenagemote, 

1  Hence  our  word  sheriff. 

2  Other  forms  of  ordeal  were  used,  among  them  that  of  water.  The  culprit  was 
thrown  into  a  pond  or  river;  if  he  sank,  he  was  considered  innocent;  if  he  floated, 
he  was  guilty.  He  was  at  once  pulled  out  and  either  set  free  or  received  the  punish¬ 
ment  set  for  his  crime.  The  idea  in  the  ordeal  was  that  God  would  indicate  the 
innocent.  ‘  The  probability  is  that  it  was  thought  that  an  innocent  or  honest  man 
could  get  compurgators,  and  therefore  the  ordeal  was  not  an  unfair  method  —  that 
it  was,  indeed,  giving  a  man  another  chance. 


ENGLAND  AT  THE  TIME  OF  THE  NORMAN  CONQUEST  51 


as  has  been  seen,  and  shared  in  the  duties  of  the  shire  and  hun¬ 
dred  motes  or  courts. 

Monks  played  an  important  part  in  the  development  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  civilization.  They  owned  a  large  share  of  the  land,  and 
possessed  numerous  buildings  and  churches.  It  is  hard  to  over¬ 
estimate  the  value  of  their  influence  in  the  seventh,  eighth,  and 
ninth  centuries.  During  the  Danish  supremacy  monasticism  suf¬ 
fered  a  temporary  downfall.  Revived  largely  through  the  efforts 
of  Dunstan  (§  27),  monasticism  again  became  a  great  power,  but 
by  the  eleventh  century  the  discipline  of  the  monasteries  had  be¬ 
come  relaxed,  and  the  monk  had  ceased  to  be  a  pattern  of  in¬ 
dustry  and  active  life.  At  one  time  the  monastery  was  the  abode 
of  literature,  art,  the  sciences,  and  of  almost  all  knowledge ;  the 
monks  were  the  farmers  and  mechanics  as  well  as  the  architects 
and  artists  of  their  age.  But  this  was  changed,  and  kings  and 
nobles  came  to  treat  monasteries,  especially  in  the  south  of  Eng¬ 
land,  rather  as  places  in  which  their  younger  sons  and  daughters 
could  live  comfortable  lives. 

42.  Language  and  Literature.  —  By  the  time  of  the  Norman 
Conquest  the  language  had  become  simpler.  It  had  lost  many  of 
its  old  forms  and  endings,  and  dropped  much  of  its  syntax  in 
consequence.  In  literature  there  was  a  decided  decline  from 
Alfred’s  days.  The  chroniclers,  however,  had  continued  their 
work. 

References. — Traill,  Social  England,  vol.  i,  chap,  ii ;  Cheyney,  Indus¬ 
trial  and  Social  History,  chap,  i,  §§  4-5  ;  Gardiner,  Student's  History,  chap, 
v;  Tout,  Advanced  History,  chap,  ix;  Cheyney,  Readings,  chap,  v,  §  3  ; 
Colby,  Selections,  §  13  ;  Kendall,  Source-Book,  §  14  ;  Lee,  Source-Book,  chap. 
V,  chap.vi,  §§  41-43- 


52 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


Norman  and  Angevin  Kings  to  Edward  I 


William  I  "Conqueror’ 
1066-1087 

=  Matilda  of  Flanders 

I 


Robert 

D.  of  Normandy 
William  Clito 


William  II  "Rufus” 
1087-1110 


Henry  I 
1100-113S 
=  Matilda  of 
Scotland 


Adela 

=  Stephen.  Count 
of  Blois 

I 

Stephen 
I 135-1154 


William  Matilda 

Lost  in  “  White  Ship”  =  (i)  Emperor  Henry  V 

1120  (2)  Geoffrey.  Count  of  Anjou 


Henry  H 
1154-1189 

I 


Henry 
d.  1173 


- ^ ^ - 1 - 1 - 1 

Richard  I  Geoffrey  John  Three  Matilda 

‘Lion  Heart”  =  Constance  1199-1216  dau.  =  Henry  the 

1189-1199  of  Brittany  =  (i)  Isabella  of  Lioni 

I  Gloucester 

Arthur  (2)  Isabella  of 


(2) 

murdered  ? 

(2)  (2) 

AngoulSme 

(2) 

(2) 

1 

Henry  HI 

1 

Richard 

1 

Eleanor 

1 

Isabella 

1 

Joanna 

1216-1272 

Earl  of 

=  Simon  de 

=  Frederic  11 

=AIexander  II 

=  Eleanor  of  Provence 

1 

Cornwall 

Montfort 

Emperor 

of  Scotland 

Edward  I 
1272-1307 


Edmund 

Earl  of  Lancaster 


1  Ancestor  of  the  Dukes  of  Brunswick  and  Electors  of  Hanover. 


CHAPTER  VI 


NORMAN  AND  ANGEVIN  KINGS;  WILLIAM  I  — HENRY  II 

1066-1189 

43.  Norman  Conquest.  1066-1071.  —  It  was  fully  five  years  be¬ 
fore  William  could  in  truth  call  himself  master  of  England.  The 
struggle  of  these  five  years  gave  him  the  name  of  William  the 
Conqueror.  In  1067. William  ventured  to  visit  Normandy;  but 
the  two  regents  whom  he  left  in  England  were  so  severe  and  un¬ 
just  that  there  were  rebellions  in  various  parts  of  the  island.  Late 
in  1067  William  returned  to  England  and  set  himself  vigorously 
to  put  down  the  rebels.  This  task  would  have  been  much 
more  difficult,  perhaps  impossible,  had  the  English  been  united  in 
their  efforts  at  resistance ;  as  it  was,  William  was  able  to  attack 
and  subdue  his  enemies  one  by  one.  In  1069  the  northern 
English  rose,  called  the  king  of  Denmark  to  their  aid,  and  were 
joined  by  some  dissatisfied  English  nobles.  Before  this  rebellion 
was  suppressed  much  of  the  north  country  had  been  laid  waste, 
and  crops  and  cattle,  farm  buildings  and  tools,  were  destroyed  to 
so  great  an  extent  that  half  a  century  later  the  still  uncultivated 
fields  bore  witness  to  William’s  pitiless  fury.  Not  even  the  old 
heathen  Danish  savages  were  as  ruthless  as  William. 

The  only  important  uprising  which  took  place  after  this  was  the 
revolt  of  the  Saxon  hero,  Hereward  the  Wake.  He  retreated  to 
the  high  ground,  known  as  the  Isle  of  Ely,  rising  in  the  midst  of 
the  almost  impenetrable  swamps  of  the  fen  land  in  eastern  England. 
For  a  long  time  he  defied  attack,  but  at  last  he  was  forced  to 
yield,  and  then  all  England  acknowledged  William  as  lord  (1072).* 

1  There  are  two  legends  concerning  Hereward:  one  followed  by  Kingsley  in  his 
‘‘  Hereward  the  Wake,"  in  which  the  hero  is  killed  by  a  band  of  Normans;  the 
other,  in  which  he  makes  submission  and  thereafter  lives  a  peaceable,  quiet  life. 
The  latter  seems  more  likely  to  be  the  true  version  of  the  story. 

53 


54 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


William  meant  to  be  ruler  of  England  in  fact  as  well  as  in  name. 
In  accomplishing  this  end  his  difficulties  were  not  simply  with  the 
English ;  he  had  to  reward  his  Norman  and  other  followers,  yet 
he  was  determined  to  do  nothing  which  would  injure  his  control 

of  the  kingdom.  The 
way  in  which  he  met 
these  difficulties  would 
of  itself  mark  him  as 
one  of  the  ablest  men 
of  his  time. 

William  treated  all 
who  had  resisted  him 
as  rebels;  he  confis¬ 
cated  their  lands  and 
gave  these  estates  to 
his  followers,  but  he  so 
distributed  the  land 
among  his  supporters 
that  it  would  be  to  the 
interest  of  each  to 
notify  him  of  any  at¬ 
tempt  at  revolt  by  the 
English;  for  a  revolt 
would  mean  the  loss 
of  land  by  the  owner.  Besides  this,  William  kept  a  standing  army 
ready  to  be  called  upon  to  put  down  any  uprising  by  the  English. 
To  make  his  position  still  stronger,  he  built  in  every  town  of 
importance  a  castle  in  which  were  stationed  Norman  soldiers.  A 
number  of  these  castles  are  still  standing  in  whole  or  in  part.  The 
most  famous  of  all  is  the  “  White  Tower  ”  which  forms  part  of  the 
Tower  of  London. 

44.  William  .and  the  Nobles.  —  One  of  the  great  difficulties 
with  which  English  kings  had  to  contend  was  the  English  baron¬ 
age,  for  the  powerful  nobles  rarely  hesitated  to  rebel  if  they 


Part  of  the  Towt:r  of  London 

The  “  Great  WTiite  Tower  ”  built  by  William  the 
Conqueror 


DOMINIONS  OF  WILLIAM  THE  CONQUEROR 


55 


56 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


thought  their  private  interests  would  be  benefited.  The  same 
thing  was  true  of  the  Normans,  as  William  had  already  found  to 
his  cost  in  Normandy.  To  remedy  this  state  of  affairs,  he  did 
away  with  all  the  great  earldoms,  and  so  distributed  throughout 
the  country  the  grants  of  land  made  to  the  barons  and  great 
nobles  that  if  one  of  them  should  rebel,  he  could  be  put  down 
before  he  could  bring  his  scattered  retainers  together.  William, 
moreover,  made  it  clear  to  the  English  that  if  they  were  faithful 
to  him,  he  would  treat  them  justly. 

45.  William  and  the  Church.  —  William  found  the  English 
church  a  national  one  ;  that  is,  the  bishops  were  appointed  by 
the  king  in  conjunction  with  the  Witenagemote  ;  and  the  clergy  sat 
in  the  Witenagemote  with  the  nobles.  He  took  into  his  own  hands 
the  appointment  of  the  bishops  and  abbots ;  he  removed  all  the 
bishops  who  were  Englishmen  and  appointed  Normans  in  their 
place ;  he  made  the  clergy  independent  of  the  civil  courts,  and 
punishments  were  inflicted  by  order  of  the  ecclesiastical  courts. 

William’s  scheme  added  greatly  to  his  power,  for  each  of  the 
three  parties  in  the  kingdom  —  the  English  people,  the  Norman 
people,  and  the  church  —  was  dependent  upon  him,  and  each 
distrusted  the  other.  It  was  very  unlikely  that  any  two  would 
unite  against  him.  He  made  Lanfranc,  an  Italian,  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury.  This  was  an  excellent  selection,  for  he  was  one 
of  the  most  able,  learned,  and  religious  men  of  his  day. 

46.  William  and  Feudalism.  —  In  England  feudalism  prevailed 
but  neither  so  extensively,  nor  in  a  form  so  fully  developed,  as 
on  the  continent.  (App.  i,  §§  34-36.)  According  to  feudalism, 
in  its  perfected  theory,  all  the  land  of  a  country  belonged  to  the 
king,  and  the  followers  of  the  king  were  called  his  vassals  and 
held  their  estates  as  the  king’s  tenants.  Their  land  was  called  a 
fief,  and  the  oath  they  took  was  the  oath  of  fealty  to  the  king  or 
overlord.  In  return  for  the  gift  of  land  the  vassal  was  bound  to 
render  his  king  or  lord  certain  personal  or  other  service,^  such  as 

1  The  amount  and  character  of  the  service  varied  greatly. 


REIGN  OF  WILLIAM  THE  CONQUEROR 


57 


to  furnish  and  equip  men  to  fight  for  him,  in  return  for  which  his 
king  or  lord  was  bound  to  protect  him  and  his  property.  He  who 
held  land  direct  from  the  king  or  ruler  could  grant  it  to  vassals  of 
his  own,  and  so  on  ;  thus  feudalism  became  in  time  an  exceedingly 
complicated  institution.  Each  vassal’s  first  duty  was  to  his  im¬ 
mediate  overlord  ;  thus  if  his  lord  should  rebel  against  the  king,  the 
vassal  was  bound  to  follow  his  lord  rather  than  the  king.  The 
essence  of  feudalism  was  this  dependence  upon  the  overlord. 
William  endeavored  to  change  this  in  England,  so  that  the 
vassal’s  first  duty  should  be  to  the  king  and  not  to  his  overlord. 
Then  if  a  noble  rebelled  and  his  men  followed  him,  they  were 
guilty  of  treason.  In  this  way  the  people  would  be  more  closely 
bound  to  the  king.  It  is  likely  that  this  change  was  gradually 
brought  about,  though  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle}  it  would 
seem  tliat  it  was  exacted  for  all  the  country  at  a  great  meeting 
held  at  Salisbury  (1086),  and  hence  called  “The  Oath  of  Salis¬ 
bury.”  As  a  result  of  tliis  policy  England  was  saved  in  after 
years  from  many  evils  which  the  unmodified  feudalism  brought 
upon  continental  Europe. 

47.  Domesday  Book.  1085-1086.  —  The  methods  of  raising 
funds  to  meet  the  expenses  of  government  were  unsatisfactory,  and 
much  property  escaped  taxation.  In  order  to  remedy  this  defect, 
and  to  increase  the  revenue,  William  caused  an  extensive  survey  to 
be  made  of  the  taxable  property  of  the  kingdom  (1085).  The 
reports  were  set  down  in  a  book  which  was  called  the  Domesday 
Book,  because  there  was  no  more  appeal  from  it  than  there  would 
be  from  the  Last  Judgment.  This  book  has  been  preserved,  and 
is  one  of  the  most  interesting  historical  records  in  existence.  How 
full  it  was  can  be  inferred  from  the  following  extract  from  the 
Chronicle :  “  So  very  narrow  did  he  cause  the  survey  to  be  made, 

1  The  passage  in  the  Chronicle  reads :  "  He  came  to  Salisbury  at  Lammas  and 
his  witan,  and  all  the  landholders  of  substance  in  England,  whose  vassals  soever 
they  were,  repaired  to  him  there,  and  they  all  submitted  to  him,  and  became  his 
men,  and  swore  oaths  of  allegiance,  that  they  would  be  faithful  to  him  against  all 
others."  A.U.  1086. 


58 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


that  there  was  not  a  single  hide  nor  a  rood  of  land,  nor  —  it  is 
shameful  to  relate  that  which  he  thought  no  shame  to  do  —  was 
there  an  ox,  or  a  cow,  or  a  pig,  passed  by,  that  was  not  set  down 
in  the  accounts.”  That  he  was  able  to  make  such  a  survey  is 
strong  testimony  to  William’s  power,  for  there  are  few  things  which 
men  resent  more  than  an  investigation  into  their  private  affairs. 


Beginning  op  the  Domesday  Book  for  Oxford 


William  was  passionately  fond  of  hunting,  and  it  was  said  of  him 
“  that  he  loved  the  tall  stags  as  though  he  was  their  father.”  Per¬ 
haps  the  most  unpopular  thing  which  he  did  was  to  make  a  large 
royal  hunting  preserve  in  Hampshire  called  the  New  Forest.  It 
is  altogether  probable  that  much  of  the  land  was  “  crown  land,” 
so  that  comparatively  few  people  were  deprived  of  their  property  ; 
moreover,  the  soil  is  poor  and  it  was  sparsely  inhabited ;  but  the 
taking  of  any  private  property  for  selfish  ends  has  always  been 
distasteful  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  mind.  The  severe  forest  laws  which 
he. made  for  the  preservation  of  game  for  his  hunting  were  really 
a  far  more  reasonable  cause  of  discontent  than  the  seizure  of  the 
land. 

48.  Death  of  William.  1087. — In  1087  William  became  in¬ 
volved  in  a  quarrel  with  the  king  of  France.  As  he  rode  through 
the  town  of  Mantes,  in  Normandy,  which  had  been  burned  by  his 
own  orders,  his  horse  stepped  on  some  burning  embers,  started, 
and  threw  William  against  the  pommel  of  his  saddle.  As  he  had 
grown  to  be  very  stout  he  was  seriously  injured.  In  a  few  days 
he  died,  and  was  buried  in  Caen  in  Normandy. 


REIGN  OF  WILLIAM  RUFUS 


59 


William  left  Normandy,  his  hereditary  possession,  to  his  eldest 
son  Robert ;  to  his  second  son,  William,  he  left  England  ;  and  to 
his  third  son,  Henry,  he  left  5000  pounds  sterling  and  some  private 
estates,  telling  him  to  bide  his  time.^ 

49.  William  II,  Rufus.  1087.  —  William,  the  son,  hastened  to 
England,  secured  the  powerful  influence  of  Lanfranc,  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  and  was  chosen  king  by  the  Witenagemote.  Many 
of  the  barons  would  have  preferred  the  easy-going  Robert  to  the 
vigorous  William,  and  in  the  very  first  year  of  his  reign  a  con¬ 
spiracy  was  formed  against  him.  William  called  on  the  English 
people  to  aid  him,  promising  them  certain  privileges  if  they  did  so. 
They  responded  to  the  call  in  such  numbers  that  the  rebellion  was 
quelled. 

50.  William  Rufus  and  the  Church  ;  Anselm.  1093.  —  William 
Rufus,  as  he  was  called  from  his  red  face,  was  an  exceedingly  able 
man,  but  he  had  all  the  evil  qualities  of  his  father  without  his 
father’s  power  of  self-control.  He  was,  moreover,  an  intensely 
selfish  man,  and  no  oath  was  too  sacred  for  him  to  break  if  it 
suited  his  pleasure.  He  quarreled  with  the  church,  and  after  the 
death  of  Lanfranc,  for  whom  he  had  some  respect,  he  allowed  the 
great  see  of  Canterbury  to  continue  vacant  for  nearly  four  years, 
in  order  that  he  might  appropriate  its  revenues  to  his  own  uses. 
In  1093  William  was  seized  with  a  serious  illness  and  in  his  fright 
he  agreed  to  appoint  an  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  He  named 
Anselm,  the  prior  of  Bee  in  Normandy,  a  man  so  pure  and  holy 
in  his  living  that  he  was  already  called  a  saint.  Anselm  was 
dragged  to  the  king’s  bedside  and  the  symbols  of  his  office  were 
forced  into  his  unwilling  hands.  The  most  learned  man  of  his 
day,  “  he  was  as  righteous  as  he  was  learned,  and  as  gentle  as  he 
was  righteous,”  but  like  many  other  quiet  and  mild  men  he  knew 
no  fear  where  questions  of  duty  were  concerned,  nor  did  he  hesi- 

1  This  arrangement  was  in  accord  with  the  custom  of  the  times,  which  was,  that 
hereditary  possessions  should  go  to  the  eldest  son.  and  the  acquired  ones  to  the 
younger  sons ;  at  the  same  time  it  was  unusual  for  a  younger  son  to  be  given  the 
most  valuable  possession. 


6o 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


tate  to  warn  the  king  against  his  sins.  After  four  years  of  contest 
with  the  king,  Anselm  retired  to  Rome,  but  his  example  had  borne 
fruit  by  encouraging  in  others  a  spirit  of  independence  which 
showed  itself  later. 

51.  Death  of  William  Rufus.  Henry  I.  iioo.  —  The  end  of 
William  Rufus  was  tragic.  He  was  hunting  in  the  New  Forest 
when  he  was  shot  by  an  arrow  which  pierced  him  to  the  heart. 
Whether  this  was  an  accident  or  not  has  never  been  found  out. 
William  left  no  direct  heirs ;  his  elder  brother  Robert  was  on  a 
crusade  (.4pp.  i,  §  59)  to  the  Holy  Land;  and  so  the  way  was 
open  for  the  youngest  brother,  Henry,  to  make  good  his  claim. 
Henry  lost  no  time  in  seizing  the  royal  treasure  and  in  getting 
himself  elected  by  an  assembly  of  the  nobles  and  prelates.  In 
order  to  gain  the  good  will  of  the  English  people,  he  married 
Eadgyth,  afterward  known  as  Matilda,  the  daughter  of  Malcolm, 
king  of  Scotland,  and  of  Margaret,  granddaughter  of  Edmund 
Ironside.  This,  together  with  the  fact  that  he  had  been  born 
in  England,  made  him  far  more  acceptable  to  the  English  than 
Robert.  Still  further  to  strengthen  his  position,  he  recalled 
Anselm  from  Rome,  and  granted  a  charter  to  the  barons.  This 
charter  is  one  of  the  most  important  in  early  English  history,  for 
it  was  made  the  basis  of  many  subsequent  charters ;  it  was  the 
first  which  considered  the  grievances  of  the  nobles  and  the  clergy, 
and  was  the  first  which  was  granted  at  the  time  of  the  coronation 
of  a  sovereign  of  England. 

In  this  charter  Henry  promised  reforms  and  a  return  to  the 
laws  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  as  amended  by  his  father,  William 
the  Conqueror.  He  gave  up  the  forests  formed  by  William  Rufus, 
but  retained  those  of  his  father.  Henry  did  not  adhere  at  all 
times  to  the  terms  of  this  charter,  but  he  did  not  recklessly 
violate  it. 

52.  Henry  and  Robert.  iio6.  —  The  difficulties  which  Henry 
had  to  face  were  similar  to  those  which  had  beset  his  father  and 
brother  ;  there  was  constant  conflict  with  his  rebellious  barons,  with 


REIGN  OF  HENRY  I 


6l 

the  French  king,  and  with  the  church.  When  Henry’s  brother 
Robert  returned  from  the  crusade  and  found  that  for  the  second 
time  he  had  failed  to  gain  the  English  crown,  he  joined  with  some 
of  the  English  nobles  in  trying  to  dethrone  his  brother.  But  the 
attempt  was  unsuccessful.  The  war  was  then  carried  into  Nor¬ 
mandy,  and  in  iio6  at  Tenchbrai,  with  an  army  largely  composed 
of  English  troops,  Henry  defeated  his  brother  and  his  allies. 
Robert  was  taken  prisoner,  conveyed  to  Great  Britain,  and  kept 
in  close  confinement  in  Cardiff  Castle,  South  Wales,  until  his 
death,  a  period  of  twenty-eight  years.  As  a  result  of  the  victory, 
all  Normandy  fell  into  Henry’s  hands. 

53.  Henry  and  the  Church ;  Anselm.  —  Except  where  he  thought 
his  duty  to  the  church  interfered,  Anselm  loyally  supported  Henry  ; 
but  it  was  almost  impossible  that  some  conflicts  should  not  arise, 
for  in  those  days  a  great  prelate  was  not  only  an  officer  of  the 
church,  but  usually  a  great  landholder  as  well.  (App.  i,  §  46.) 
Under  the  feudal  laws,  if  called  upon,  he  was  bound  under  certain 
well-defined  circumstances  to  supply  knights  for  the  king’s  army. 
He  was  also  required  to  do  the  same  homage  for  his  lands  that 
was  exacted  of  a  baron.  When  Henry  asked  Anselm  to  repeat 
the  homage  he  had  rendered  to  William  Rufus,  Anselm  declined 
to  do  so ;  and  not  only  that,  but  he  refused  to  consecrate  the 
bishops  whom  Henry  had  appointed.  His  position  was  that  of 
Gregory  VH,  one  recently  supported  by  a  church  council,  which 
held  that  the  church  should  be  entirely  independent  of  the  state, 
and  should  appoint  its  own  dignitaries.  Neither  Henry  nor  Anselm 
would  yield,  and  Anselm  left  England  for  about  three  years.  Then 
an  honorable  compromise  reasonably  satisfactory  to  both  parties 
was  reached  (1106).  (App.  i,  §  54.) 

54.  Henry  and  France  ;  “  The  White  Ship.”  1120.  —  Henry’s 
difficulties  with  the  French  king  were  connected  with  Normandy. 
Robert,  Duke  of  Normandy,  was  in  safe  confinement,  but  his  son, 
William  Clito,  claimed  the  duchy,  and  was  supported  by  the  king 
of  France,  who  naturally  preferred  to  have  for  his  vassal  and  neigh- 


62 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


bor  a  young  man  rather  than  the  powerful  king  of  England.  For 
nearly  twenty  years  there  was  almost  constant  warfare  with  France. 
At  length  Robert’s  son  was  killed  in  battle  (1128),  and  then  there 
was  peace  for  Henry. 

When  Henry  was  returning  from  one  of  his  visits  to  Normandy 
(1120),  his  only  son,  a  youth  of  seventeen,  with  a  crowd  of  nobles 
followed  him  in  another  vessel.  The  White  Ship.  They  set  sail 
from  the  town  of  Barfleur  in  the  evening  after  a  time  of  revelling. 
Probably  there  was  not  a  sober  seaman  on  board,  and  it  is  not 
surprising  that  the  vessel  struck  on  the  rocks  at  the  entrance  of 
the  harbor.  Prince  William  was  thrust  into  a  boat  and  might 
have  been  saved  had  he  not  insisted  on  returning  for  his  half  sister. 
As  his  boat  neared  the  rapidly  sinking  ship,  it  was  swamped  by 
crowds  of  men  and  passengers  jumping  into  it,  and  Prince  William 
and  the  rest  were  drowned.  A  butcher  of  Rouen  who  clung  to 
the  mast  of  the  vessel  was  the  sole  survivor  of  all  that  gay  com¬ 
pany.  At  first,  no  one  dared  to  carry  the  dreadful  tidings  to  the 
king;  then  a  little  boy,  falling  down  before  him,  told  him  the 
terrible  news.  Henry  fell  senseless,  and,  it  is  said,  never  smiled 
again. 

55.  Matilda  and  the  Succession.  —  Henry  determined  to  make 
his  daughter  his  heir ;  and  though  no  woman  had  as  yet  sat  on 
the  English  throne,  he  succeeded  in  getting  the  barons  to  swear 
allegiance  to  Matilda  as  his  successor.  She  had  been  the  wife  of 
Henry  V,  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  but  had  recently  returned  to 
England,  a  widow.  Henry  married  her  to  Geoffrey,  the  son  of 
the  Count  of  Anjou,  whose  lands  were  south  of  Normandy.  These 
added  to  the  duchy  of  Normandy  would  greatly  increase  the  con¬ 
tinental  possessions  of  the  English  king.  Unfortunately,  the  match 
was  highly  unpopular  with  Henry’s  subjects,  both  English  and  Nor¬ 
man  :  with  the  former,  because  they  disliked  any  foreign  compli¬ 
cations  ;  and  with  the  latter,'  because  the  Counts  of  Anjou  had 
always  been  foes  of  the  Normans.  However,  in  1133  the  barons 
again  swore  fealty  to  Matilda  and  also  to  her  infant  son. 


REIGN  OF  STEPHEN 


63 


56.  Death  of  Henry.  1135.  —  In  1135  Henry  died,  after  an 
active  and  successful  reign  of  thirty-five  years.  He  was  a  great 
king.  Though  naturally  selfish,  like  the  rest  of  his  family,  circum¬ 
stances  made  many  of  his  interests  and  those  of  the  people 
coincide.  England  was  suffering  from  the  selfishness  and  turbu¬ 
lence  of  the  large  barons ;  they  were  also  Henry’s  enemies,  and  so 
he  did  all  in  his  power  to  keep  them  in  check.  He  introduced  a 
well-ordered  administration  of  finance  and  justice,  and  the  internal 
reforms  which  he  brought  about  were  favorable  to  a  rapid  increase 
in  trade  and  commerce.  He  was  a  peace-loving  king,  with  keen 
aptitude  for  organization  and  order.  A  scholar  himself  and  famil¬ 
iar  with  French,  English,  and  Latin,  he  was  a  patron  of  learning 
and  encouraged  the  presence  of  famous  scholars  at  his  court. 
During  his  reign  the  monasteries  became  centers  of  education, 
and  the  monks  busied  themselves  with  chronicles.  These  were 
written  in  Latin,. and  are  of  the  greatest  value  to  modern  students 
of  history. 

57.  Stephen  of  Blois.  1135.  —  Though  the  barons  had  sworn 
that  they  would  recognize  Henry’s  daughter,  Matilda,  as  queen, 
they  broke  all  their  promises  and  chose  for  their  king,  Stephen, 
Count  of  Blois,  son  of  Adela,  a  daughter  of  William  the  Con¬ 
queror.  Stephen  did  not  seem  like  a  foreigner,  for  he  had  been 
brought  up  at  the  English  court  and  was  well  known  to  the  Eng¬ 
lish  and  was  popular.  He  was  a  genial,  pleasant  man,  handsome 
and  generous.  He  had  been  a  favorite  with  his  uncle  Henry,  who 
had  given  him  such  large  possessions  as  to  make  him  one  of  the 
most  powerful  barons  in  England.  His  cause  was  especially  sup¬ 
ported  by  the  Londoners,  who  desired  peace  above  all  things,  and 
who  thought  that  a  woman  would  not  be  likely  to  govern  well  and 
to  continue  Henry’s  policy.  Matilda,  moreover,  had  spent  only 
two  years  in  England  since  she  was  eight  years  old.  Her  husband, 
Geoffrey,  was  an  hereditary  foe  of  the  Normans.  “We  will  not 
have  a  foreigner  to  reign  over  us,”  they  said. 

To  make  his  tenure  more  secure,  Stephen  issued  two  charters 


64 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


promising  to  maintain  peace  and  justice,  the  freedom  of  the 
church,  and  other  liberties.  He  also  agreed  to  give  up  the 
forests  which  Henry  had  made.  Stephen  seems  to  have  had 
neither  the  desire  nor  the  ability  to  keep  his  promises.  He  was 
not  a  timid  man,  but  he  lacked  both  judgment  and  prudence. 
He  had  no  control  over  the  barons  and  he  made  enemies  of  the 
clergy. 

58.  The  Barons  and  Stephen.  —  The  barons  soon  erected  castles 
all  over  the  kingdom  and  defied  the  king.  It  was  said  of  them  : 
“  They  fought  among  themselves  with  deadly  hatred  ;  they  spoiled 
the  fairest  lands  with  fire  and  rapine ;  in  what  had  been  the  most 
fertile  of  counties  they  had  destroyed  almost  all  the  provision  of 
bread.  .  .  .  They  hanged  up  men  by  the  feet  and  smoked  them 
with  foul  smoke ;  some  were  hanged  by  their  thumbs,  others  by 
their  heads,  and  burning  things  were  hung  to  their  feet.  They 
knotted  strings  about  men’s  heads  and  twisted  them  till  they  went 
to  the  brain.  They  put  men  into  prisons  where  adders  and  snakes 
and  toads  were  crawling;  and  so  they  tormented  them.”  These 
were  only  part  of  the  cruelties  which  were  perpetrated  by  the 
barons  upon  their  enemies  and  upon  those  whose  possessions  they 
wished  to  seize.  Stephen  himself,  on  one  occasion,  it  is  related, 
having  taken  prisoner  a  son  of  the  lady  who  held  the  castle  he 
was  besieging,  put  a  rope  around  the  neck  of  his  prisoner,  and 
threatened  to  hang  him  in  sight  of  his  mother  unless  the  castle 
was  surrended.  The  unhappy  mother  could  not  bear  the  sight, 
and  opened  the  gates  to  the  king. 

59.  Stephen  and  Matilda;  Civil  War.  1140.  —  Stephen  came 
to  the  throne  in  1135;  by  1140  the  kingdom  was  in  a  state  of 
anarchy.  Matilda  thought  it  was  a  good  opportunity  to  press  her 
claim.  She  found  supporters,  but  they  were  more  interested  in 
fighting  Stephen  than  they  were  in  her  or  in  her  success.  Stephen, 
instead  of  appealing  to  the  people  for  support,  hired  soldiers  from 
the  Continent  to  help  him,  an  action  which  turned  many  from 
him.  In  a  battle  fought  at  Lincoln  (1141)  Stephen  was  taken 


REIGN  OF  STEPHEN 


65 


prisoner  and  all  England  submitted  to  Matilda,  who  was  called  by 
the  barons  the  “Lady  of  England.”^  Matilda  was  harsh,  and 
soon  London,  with  many  of  the  great  barons,  turned  against  her, 
Stephen  had  been  set 
at  liberty  in  exchange 
for  Matilda’s  half 
brother  who  was  held 
captive  by  Stephen’s 
followers ;  civil  war 
began  and  the  land 
was  in  desperate 
straits.  Bad  as 
Stephen’s  rule  had 
been,  it  was  certainly 
better  than  Matilda’s, 
so  the  cause  of 
Stephen  kept  gain¬ 
ing,  and  in  i 148 
Matilda  gave  up  the 
struggle  and  left  Eng¬ 
land,  and  Stephen 
was  again  king.  Two 
or  three  years  later  Ruins  of  Richmond  Castle. 

Matilda  s  son,  Henry,  Normans 

a  youth  of  sixteen, 

was  sent  to  England  to  see  what  success  he  could  attain.  He 
had,  however,  to  abandon.the  attempt  to  gain  the  crown. 

60.  Treaty  of  Wallingford;  Death  of  Stephen.  1154.  —  In 
1150  Geoffrey  of  Anjou,  the  husband  of  Matilda,  died,  and  Henry 
succeeded  to  the  large  possessions  of  the  Counts  of  Anjou.  To 
these  he  added  Aquitaine  by  marriage  (1152)  with  Eleanor,  the 
divorced  wife  of  Louis  VH  of  France.  He  now  felt  himself  strong 
enough  to  make  another  attempt  to  secure  the  English  crown. 


1  Matilda  was  not  crowned. 


66 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


Though  only  nineteen,  Henr}'  was  more  than  the  equal  of  Stephen, 
and  was  so  successful  that  Stephen  was  compelled  to  treat  for 
peace.  By  the  Treaty  of  Wallingford  (1153)  it  was  agreed  that 
Stephen  should  retain  the  crown  until  his  death,  but  that  Henry 
should  be  his  heir.  It  was  easier  for  Stephen  to  agree  to  this  be¬ 
cause  his  son  Eustace,  whom  he  had  expected  to  succeed  him, 
had  lately  died.  It  was  also  agreed  that  the  castles  which  had 
been  built  during  the  reign  of  Stephen  should  be  demolished.^ 
After  a  few  months  Henry  returned  to  his  continental  possessions. 
The  next  year  (1154)  Stephen  died,  and  Henry  succeeded  to  the 
English  crown  without  opposition,  the  first  peaceful  succession 
since  1066. 

61.  Henry  II,  Plantagenet.  1154-  —  Henry  of  Anjou,  known 
in  England  as  Henry  H,  was  the  first  of  the  Angevin  family  to  rule 
in  England.  He  is  also  known  as  Plantagenet.^ 

In  person  he  was  a  little  above  the  middle  height,  stout,  and 
with  a  thick  neck.  He  had  a  round  head  and  wore  his  hair  closely 
cropped.  He  was  a  restless,  active  man,  rarely  sitting  down  ex¬ 
cept  at  meals  or  when  he  was  on  horseback.  He  was  careless  in 
his  dress ;  his  manner  was  usually  pleasant  and  affable,  but  when 
he  was  crossed,  he  was  rough  and  passionate ;  and  it  was  said  of 
him  that  he  would  sometimes  roll  on  the  ground  in  a  rage  and 
even  bite  at  the  straws  and  sticks  near  him.  On  the  other  hand, 
he  was  generally  wise  and  far-seeing  in  his  statesmanship,  ener¬ 
getic  and  painstaking  in  carrying  out  his  plans,  and  at  the  same 
time  crafty  and  tenacious.  He  was  perhaps  the  most  learned 
monarch  of  his  time  and  delighted  in.  the  society  of  scholars. 
Like  his  Norman  ancestors,  he  was  devoted  to  the  chase  and 
excelled  in  war.  He  had  little  regard  for  religion  or  for  the 
church. 

Though  only  twenty-one  at  the  time  of  his  succession,  he  was 

1  It  is  said  that  there  were  1115  of  these. 

2  Angev'n,  that  is  “  of  Anjou.”  The  name  Plantagenet  is  derived  from  planta 
genista;  in  French,  p/antegenet,  the  broom  plant,  a  sprig  of  which  Geoffrey, 
Henry’s  lather,  was  accustomed  to  wear  in  his  helmet. 


DOMINIONS  OF  THE  PLANTAGENETS 


67 


68 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


wiser  and  abler  than  most  men  of  twice  his  age.  He  was  one  of 
the  most  powerful  monarchs  of  Europe,  for  besides  England,  his 
possessions  in  France  were  greater  than  those  of  the  king  of 
France  himself.  By  inheritance  or  through  marriage  (§  6o)  he 
ruled  Normandy,  Anjou,  Maine,  Touraine,  Aquitaine,  Poitou,  Gas¬ 
cony,  and  several  smaller  states.  So  important  were  his  conti¬ 
nental  interests  that  of  his  long  reign  of  thirty-five  years,  only 
thirteen  were  spent  in  Britain,  and  his  longest  continuous  stay 
there  was  two  and  one  half  years.  But  this  did  not  prevent 
him  from  understanding  the  condition  of  his  English  kingdom 
and  ruling  it  wisely.  He  was  skillful  in  the  choice  of  his  ministers, 
and  was  always  ready  to  listen  to  advice. 

62.  Thomas  Becket.  —  In  his  efforts  to  reform  the  condition 
of  affairs,  Henry  was  greatly  helped  by  Thomas  Becket,  after¬ 
wards  ^Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  the  son  of  Gilbert  Becket,  a 
Norman  merchant  wlio  had  settled  in  London.  Shortly  after 
Henry’s  accession  Thomas  Becket  was  made  chancellor^  of  the 
kingdom.  Thomas  of  London,  as  he  was  then  known,  for  the 
practice  of  having  surnames  had  not  been  adopted,  was  fond  of 
display  and  lived  in  great  style ;  but  in  a  licentious  age  and  amid 
great  temptations  he  appears  to  have  kept  himself  free  from  every 
kind  of  vice.  He  and  the  king  became  close  friends  and  jested 
with  each  other  like  boon  companions.  It  is  said  that  they  were 
riding  together  one  cold  winter’s  day  when  they  met  an  ill-clad 
beggar.  “  Would  it  not  be  a  charity,”  said  the  king,  “  to  give  that 
fellow  a  cloak  and  cover  him  from  the  cold  ?”  “  Yes,”  said  Becket. 

Whereupon  the  king  snatched  Becket’s  fine  scarlet  cloak  edged 
with  fur.  Becket  resisted,  and  in  the  struggle  the  two  men  were 
nearly  thrown  from  their  horses,  but  in  the  end  Henry  got  the 
cloak  and  flung  it  to  the  beggar.  Such  were  the  familiar  terms 
upon  which  these  two  men  lived. 

1  The  chancellor  was  the  secretary  of  the  King’s  Court,  or  Curia  Regis.  He 
issued  writs  and  other  public  documents;  kept  the  great  seal  of  the  kingdom; 
acted  as  judge ;  and  held  the  right  of  appointment  to  many  ecclesiastical  benefices. 


REFORMS  OF  HENRY  II 


69 


63.  Henry’s  Reforms.  —  Henry’s  reforms  were  as  thorough  as 
it  was  possible  to  make  them.  He  not  only  followed  the  plans 
of  his  grandfather,  Henry  I,  but  carried  them  still  farther.  He 
sent  all  foreign  troops  out  of  the  kingdom  ;  he  ordered  that  the 
castles  which  had  been  built  during  Stephen’s  reign  should  be 
destroyed,  and  if,  in  any  instance,  his  command  was  not  obeyed, 
he  sent  troops  against  that  stronghold  and  destroyed  it.  He  saw 
clearly  that  his  most  dangerous  enemies  in  England  were  the 
great  barons,  and  to  weaken  these  he  hit  upon  a  plan  which 
strengthened  his  power  on  the  Continent  as  well  as  in  England. 
Henry  needed  an  army  to  protect  his  continental  possessions ;  his 
English  subjects  were  not  bound  by  feudal  laws  to  fight  except 
at  home,  and  though  feudal  vassals  were  liable  to  foreign  service, 
they  could  not  be  forced  to  serve  more  tlian  forty  days  in  any 
one  year.  This  was  far  too  short  a  time  to  suit  Henry.  He 
therefore  encouraged  a  practice  which  had  been  gradually  grow¬ 
ing  up.  This  was  to  make  a  money  payment  to  the  king  in  lieu 
of  personal  service.  With  this  money  the  king  was  able  to  hire 
troops  for  as  long  a  service  as  he  might  choose,  and  thus  the 
English  knights  could  stay  at  home.  A  further  result  of  this  prac¬ 
tice,  and  a  very  important  one,  was  that  the  knights,  who  in  earlier 
times  were  warriors,  now  became  landowners,  who  devoted  much 
of  their  time  to  peaceful  pursuits  and  thereby  became  vitally  in¬ 
terested  in  local  affairs.  This  custom  also  marked  a  step  in  the 
decline  of  feudalism,  the  essence  of  which  was  personal  service  in 
return  for  personal  benefits. 

The  fact  that  Henry’s  long  absences  from  England  did  not 
seriously  weaken  his  autliority  was  due  to  the  skill  with  which  he 
chose  his  representatives.  He  intrusted  two  laymen,  Richard  de 
Lucy  and  Robert  of  Leicester,  with  almost  kingly  power.  These 
men,  called  Justiciars,*  with  Becket,  carried  out  the  king’s  policy 

1  The  name  justiciar  had  different  meanings  at  different  periods.  In  Heniy’s 
time  the  justiciars  acted  as  “  permanent  prime  ministers,  as  representatives  of  the 
monarch  in  all  relations  of  state,  as  regents  during  the  king’s  absence,"  etc. 


70 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


so  well  that  for  ten  years  England  had  such  a  rest  from  turmoil  as 
she  had  not  known  for  many  years. 

64.  Henry  and  the  Church.  —  When  Henry  came  to  the  throne 
the  two  foes  of  reform  were  the  barons  and  the  church ;  neither 
of  them  wished  to  be  restrained,  or  to  give  up  any  of  the  power 
acquired  during  the  reign  of  Stephen.  Henry  had  reduced  the 
barons  to  submission,  but  he  had  little  opportunity  to  take  from 
the  church  those  powers  gained  in  earlier  times,  or  not  rightly 
belonging  to  it. 

Under  the  general  system  at  that  time  if  a  member  of  the 
clergy  committed  a  crime,  he  was  to  be  tried  in  an  ecclesiastical 
court.  This  system  was  open  to  great  abuse,  for  it  permitted 
persons  to  become  members  of  the  clergy  simply  to  secure  clerical 
privileges,  or  to  escape  the  secular  or  ordinary  laws.  For  instance, 
the  ecclesiastical  courts  could  not  inflict  the  penalty  of  death,  and 
so  if  one  of  the  clergy  or  “  clerks,”  as  they  were  called,  committed 
a  murder,  he  escaped  death.  Moreover,  the  church  courts  were 
more  lenient,  it  was  claimed,  than  others,  and  criminals  got  off 
with  lighter  penalties.  Henry  believed  that  there  should  be  one 
law  for  all  his  subjects,  but  so  long  as  Archbishop  Theobald  lived, 
there  seemed  to  be  no  opportunity  to  bring  this  about. 

65.  Henry  and  Archbishop  Becket.  1162-1164.  —  Theobald 
died  in  1162,  and  Henry  at  once  determined  to  appoint  as  arch¬ 
bishop  his  friend  and  chancellor,  Thomas  Becket,  expecting  that 
through  him  he  could  carry  out  his  plans.  Becket  did  all  in  his 
power  to  prevent  the  king  from  making  the  nomination  and  from 
securing  the  appointment  from  the  Pope.  “  I  warn  you,”  said 
Becket,  “  that  if  such  a  thing  should  be,  our  friendship  would  soon 
turn  to  bitter  hate.”  But  Henry  insisted,  and  Thomas  became 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury.^ 

From  the  moment  he  became  archbishop,  all  his  interests  were 
centered  in  the  church  and  all  his  strength  was  given  to  it.  He 

1  Becket  though  a  deacon  was  not  a  priest,  but  was  forthwith  ordained  one,  and 
the  very  next  day  consecrated  archbishop. 


HENRY  II  AND  BECKET  7 1 

at  once  resigned  the  chancellorship,  saying,  “  It  is  impossible  for 
me  to  serve  two  masters,”  meaning  the  church  and  the  king. 

It  was  not  long  before  a  conflict  arose  between  the  king  and  the 
archbishop.  Henry  was  determined  that  any  “clerk”  (member 
of  the  clergy)  who  was  guilty  of  a  crime  should  be  tried,  and  in 


Canterbury  Cathedral 

The  choir  was  built  in  the  twelft''  century,  and  the  nave,  transepts,  and  central 
tower  date  from  the  fifteenth  century.  Some  of  the  glass  is  of  the  thirteenth 
century. 

some  instances  sentenced,  in  a  “lay”  court,  that  is,  in  an  ordinary 
court  of  justice.  Becket  insisted  that  all  “  clerks  ”  should  be  tried 
in  a  church  court,  maintaining  that  Henry’s  claim  was  an  inroad 
upon  the  liberties  of  the  church. 

66.  Constitutions  of  Clarendon.  1164.  —  Henry  summoned  a 
great  council  to  meet  at  Clarendon  near  Salisbury,  and  at  his 
command  a  committee  of  bishops  and  barons  issued  what  are 
known  as  the  Constitutions  of  Clarendon.  These  professed  to  set 
forth  the  customs  of  the  king’s  grandfather,  Henry  I.  No  one 


72 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


knew  exactly  what  these  were,  but  Becket  and  the  bishops  had 
agreed  to  observe  them.  When  issued,  they  were  found  to  be 
against  the  claims  of  the  church.  The  most  important  of  the  six¬ 
teen  articles  provided  in  many  cases  that  clerks  and  persons  under 
the  protection  of  the  church  should  be  tried  in  the  lay  courts ; 
that  bishops  who  held  land  as  feudal  tenants  should  do  homage 
just  as  lay  tenants  were  required  to  do ;  that  no  appeals  should  be 
made  to  the  Pope  without  the  king’s  leave ;  that  no  member  of 
the  royal  household  or  “tenant  in  chief”  (that  is,  a  man  who  was 
the  king’s  direct  vassal)  should  be  excommunicated  from  the 
church  without  the  king’s  knowledge.  It  cannot  be  said  that  these 
requirements  were  unreasonable  ;  for  it  was  absolutely  necessary, 
for  the  sake  of  common  justice,  to  settle  the  questions  continually 
arising  between  the  lay  and  clerical  courts,  and  to  end,  as  far  as 
possible,  the  frequent  lawlessness  arising  from  the  conflicts  of 
authority. 

67.  Becket’s  Refusal  and  Flight  to  France.  1164.  —  Becket, 
strongly  opposed  to  any  lessening  of  the  power  of  the  church,  took 
time  for  consideration  and  then  managed  to  evade  signing  the 
articles.  Henry,  angered  at  Becket’s  conduct,  resolved  not  to 
yield.  Nine  months  passed  ;  Henry  then  summoned  Becket  to 
appear  before  a  royal  council  held  at  Northampton  to  answer 
certain  charges  regarding  his  lands  and  his  financial  transactions  as 
chancellor.  Here  Becket  was  found  guilty  of  treason  and  declared 
to  be  a  debtor  to  the  crown  for  a  very  large  amount.^ 

With  his  crucifix  in  his  hand,  he  awaited  the  decision  in  the 
hall.  When  he  was  informed  of  it,  he  appealed  to  the  judgment 
of  the  Pope  in  defiance  of  the  constitutions,  and  walked  out.  As 
he  went  along,  some  one  said,  “This  is  a  fearful  day.”  “Yes,” 
said  Becket,  “but  the  Day  of  Judgment  will  be  more  fearful.” 
He  fled  in  disguise  to  the  coast  and  crossed  over  to  France.  He 

1  It  is  hardly  to  be  doubted  that  these  charges  were  only  technically  true,  if 
indeed  they  were  that.  The  fact  was  that  Henry  wished  to  get  rid  of  Becket  and 
took  this  means  of  doing  so. 


HENRY  II  AND  BECKET 


73 


remained  in  exile  six  years.  Meanwhile  Henry  banished  about 
four  hundred  of  the  archbishop’s  relatives  and  friends  and  con¬ 
fiscated  the  revenues  of  Becket’s  see. 

68.  Becket  in  France ;  Coronation  of  Prince  Henry.  1170.  — 
Becket  did  not  find  the  support  in  France  and  from  the  Pope  that 
he  looked  for.  There  were  two  rival  Popes,  and  Alexander  III 
who  had  the  best  claim,  was  too  much  afraid  that  Henry  would 
recognize  his  rival  to  give  active  support  to  Becket;  and  the  king 
of  France,  though  he  received  Becket  and  showed  him  honor,  did 
little  more.  Henry  was  now  free  to  carry  out  his  own  plans,  and 
from  this  time  the  Constitutions  of  Clarendon  regulated  the  rela¬ 
tions  of  church  and  state,  and  law  gradually  took  the  place  of 
despotism. 

Henry  was  anxious  to  have  his  eldest  son  follow  him  on  the 
throne.  But  since  the  time  of  the  Norman  Conquest  no  eldest  son 
of  an  English  king  had  succeeded  his  father.  Henry  determined 
to  have  his  eldest  son  crowned  during  his  father’s  lifetime.* 
Accordingly,  in  1170  Prince  Henry  was  crowned  by  Roger,  Arch¬ 
bishop  of  York.  It  was  then,  and  still  is,  the  special  privilege  of 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  as  Primate  of  all  England,  to  crown 
the  monarchs  of  England.  As  soon,  therefore,  as  Becket  heard 
what  was  to  be  dpne,  he  sent  word  to  Roger  that  all  bishops  about 
to  take  part  in  the  coronation  of  the  young  Prince  were  excom¬ 
municated,  and  warned  him  that  this  order  was  approved  by  the 
Pope.  The  coronation  took  place,  but  Becket’s  action  threw 
doubt  on  its  validity.  To  meet  this  difficulty  Henry  resolved  to 
make  peace  with  Becket.  Henry  also  feared  lest  the  Pope  should 
excommunicate  him  or  lay  an  interdict*  on  the  kingdom.  At 
length,  through  the  agency  of  the  Pope,  Henry  and  Becket  met  at 
Fr^teval,  not  far  from  Tours,  in  France,  and  some  sort  of  a  recon¬ 
ciliation  was  reached.  Becket  returned  to  England. 

1  This  was  often  done  by  continental  monarchs.  In  medieval  times  coronation 
was  held  to  be  all-important,  while  in  modern  times  it  is  considered  a  non-essentiaU 

2  Interdict,  see  §  79,  note. 


74 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


69.  Return  and  Murder  of  Becket.  1170.  —  The  archbishop 
landed  at  Sandwich  (December  i,  1170)  and  was  received  with 
shouts  of  welcome  from  the  people,  who  looked  on  him  as  a  pro¬ 
tector  of  their  rights.  He  would  not  release  from  the  ban  of  ex- 
communication  the  bishops  who  had  taken  part  in  the  coronation 
of  the  Prince,  unless  the  confiscated  estates  of  Canterbury  were 
restored  to  him.  On  this,  the  bishops  resolved  to  appeal  to  Henry, 
who  was  on  the  continent.  Henry  was  very  angry  and  cried  out 

impatiently,  “  What  a  parcel  of  fools 
and  dastards  have  I  nourished  in 
my  house  that  not  one  of  them  will 
avenge  me  of  this  one  upstart 
clerk  !  ”  Four  knights  who  heard 
him  took  him  at  his  word  and 
hastened  to  England  and  Canter¬ 
bury.  At  first  they  went  unarmed 
to  the  archbishop’s  palace,  and  had 
hot  words  with  him,  demanding 
that  he  should  leave  the  kingdom. 
But  Becket  defied  them.  Then 
they  went  out  for  arms.  In  the 
meantime  Becket’s  friends  per¬ 
suaded  him  to  take  refuge  in  the 
cathedral.  Here  the  knights  found  him  and  murdered  him. 
Though  Henry  at  once  declared  that  he  had  no  hand  in  the 
murder,  and  sent  to  the  Pope  assurance  to  that  effect,  this  deed 
aroused  deep  indignation,  not  only  in  England,  but  throughout 
Europe.  Thomas  was  looked  upon  as  a  martyr,  was  soon  can¬ 
onized,  and  became  the  most  popular  saint  in  England.* 

70.  Henry  and  Ireland.  1171.  —  Henry  was  the  first  English 
king  to  make  an  attempt  to  conquer  Ireland.  That  island  was  then 

1  To  canonize  is  for  the  Catholic  church  to  place  a  deceased  person  upon  the 
canon  or  list  of  saints.  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury  continued  to  be  a  popular  saint 
down  to  the  Protestant  Reformation,  when  his  shrine  at  Canterbury  was  destroyed. 
It  was  to  this  shrine  that  Chaucer,  in  his  great  poem,  makes  his  pilgrims  traveL 


The  Mukder  of  Thomas  Becket 

After  a  Canterbury  seal  of  the  four- 
^  teenth  century 


REIGN  OF  HENRY  II 


75 


celebrated  for  its  work  in  metal,  and  for  the  skillful  illumination 
of  manuscripts,  but  in  almost  everything  else  it  was  far  behind  the 
rest  of  Europe.  There  were  a  number  of  tribes,  each  ruled  by  a 
chieftain,  and  petty  warfare  was  almost  continual.  The  church 
and  monasteries  were  also  very  much  disorganized.  It  was  in  the 
hope  that  Henry’s  efforts  would  place  the  Irish  church  under 
Roman  authority  that  Adrian  IV  (Nicholas  Breakspear),  the  only 
Englishman  who  ever  became  Pope,  is  said  to  have  given  Ireland 
to  the  English  king  (1154).* 

Then,  however,  seemed  to  Henry  a  good  time  to  make  a  serious 
effort  to  gain  Ireland,  and  in  1171  he  crossed  the  Irish  Channel 
with  that  end  in  view.  There  were  already  Englishmen  in  Ireland, 
for  Richard  de  Clare,  afterwards  known  as  Strongbow,  with  a 
number  of  followers,  had  gone  to  Ireland  in  1169-1170  at  the  in¬ 
vitation  of  Dermot,  an  Irish  chieftain,  to  assist  him  in  regaining 
his  possessions.  They  had  been  successful ;  Strongbow  had  mar¬ 
ried  Dermot’s  daughter,  and  at  his  death  seized  upon  his  kingdom. 
His  rule,  like  that  of  many  foreign  aggressors,  was  harsh.  Henry, 
therefore,  was  welcomed  by  many  of  the  Irish,  and  yielded  to  by 
the  earlier  English  invaders,  who  lacked  the  courage  and  the 
strength  to  resist  him.  Unfortunately  for  Ireland,  Henry  was 
soon  forced  to  leave  the  island  to  look  after  more  important  in¬ 
terests,  and  with  his  departure  the  old  condition  of  petty  warfare 
was  renewed. 

71.  Henry  and  the  Barons. — There  had  been  in  England,  as 
on  the  Continent,  a  struggle  between  the  barons  and  the  crown. 
The  tendency  had  been  toward  the  Increase  of  royal  authority ; 
this  the  barons  naturally  resisted,  and  from  time  to  time,  as  op¬ 
portunity  offered,  they  rebelled.  They  had  been  most  successful 
during  the  reign  of  Stephen,  and  the  anarchy  of  that  reign  showed 
what  might  be  expected  if  they  should  become  the  stronger  party 


1  This  grant,  if  made,  for  it  has  never  been  fuily  estabiished  as  a  historical  fact, 
was  maiie  on  the  ground  that  aii  islands  beiong  to  the  Pope.  It  may  be  taken  as 
an  example  of  the  extensive  claims  of  the  Papacy  at  that  time. 


76 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


in  the  state.  From  the  first  Henry  had  done  all  that  he  could 
to  lessen  the  strength  of  these  barons  and  had  accomplished 
much.  The  barons  had  chafed  at  their  loss  of  power,  and  were 
determined  to  make  a  desperate  effort  to  recover  their  lost  posi¬ 
tion.  The  time  was  seemingly  ripe  for  such  an  attempt.  As 
Henry  was  lord  of  more  than  half  of  France,  the  kings  of  France 
were  always  ready  to  take  advantage  of  any  movement  which 
might  injure  their  English  rival;  so  were  the  petty  dukes  and 
counts  whose  dominions  were  near  by ;  the  Scots  also  were  alive 
to  any  opportunity  for  enlarging  their  borders.  Besides  all  these, 
Henry  had  foes  in  his  own  household.  His  wife,  Eleanor,  was  on 
bad  terms  with  him,  and  sympathized  with  her  sons,  who,  despite 
their  father’s  affection  for  them,  were  dissatisfied  with  what  he  had 
given  them,  and  were  ready  to  plot  against  him.  All  these 
enemies  conspired  at  the  same  time  against  the  unfortunate  king. 

72.  Henry’s  Reconciliation  with  the  Church  and  his  Penance. 
1174.  —  Henry  knew  that -as  long  as  he  was  on  ill  terms  w’ith  the 
church,  his  affairs  could  not  prosper ;  therefore  he  resolved  to  be 
reconciled  to  it.  He  met  the  papal  legates,  swore  that  he  was 
innocent  of  the  death  of  Becket,  and  agreed  to  make  certain 
important  concessions.  Upon  this  he  received  absolution. 

Meanwhile,  Henry  had  caused  his  eldest  son,  Henry,  to  be 
crowned  again,  and  this  time  his  son’s  wife,  Margaret,  daughter  of 
the  king  of  France,  had  been  also  crowned.  To  this  son,  Henry  had 
given  Normandy;  for  his  son  Geoffrey,  he  had  secured  Brittany;^ 
and  to  Richard,  his  second  son,  he  had  given  Aquitaine.  All  these 
countries  were  to  be  ruled  under  Henry  and  not  independently. 
But  this  arrangement  did  not  satisfy  his  sons;  and  the  French 
king,  hoping  to  gain  thereb)',  joined  with  them  and  plotted  a  rebel¬ 
lion,  to  which  Eleanor,  Henry’s  wife,  gave  her  aid.  The  barons  at¬ 
tacked  Henry  almost  simultaneously  in  Normandy,  on  the  Scottish 
border,  and  in  England.  He  was  successful  against  the  rebels 

1  He  had  done  this  by  the  marriage  of  Geoffrey  to  Constance,  heiress  of  the 
duchy. 


REIGN  OF  HENRY  II  77 

in  Normandy,  and  his  faithful  justiciars,  Richard  de  Lucy  and 
William  Mandeville,  routed  the  barons  in  England. 

The  contest  was  still  going  on  with  the  Scots  when  Henry 
landed  in  England  on  his  way  to  Canterbury  to  do  penance  at  the 
tomb  of  Becket.  When  he  reached  the  entrance  of  the  city,  “  he 
dismounted,  put  on  a 
plain,  woolen  gown,  bared 
his  royal  feet,  and  so 
walked  through  the  rough 
and  muddy  streets  to  the 
cathedral.  ...  At  the 
threshold,  he  knelt  down 
and  said  a  prayer ;  on 
being  led  to  the  spot 
where  Becket  fell,  he 
kissed  it  and  bathed  it 
with  tears.”  The  Bishop 
of  London  then  spoke  to 
the  people  on  behalf  of 
the  king,  expressing  sor¬ 
row  that  hasty  words  of 
his  should  have  led  the 
knights  to  commit  so  vile 
a  deed.  He  also  stated  that  the  king  confirmed  the  see  of  Can¬ 
terbury  in  all  her  rights.  Henry  then  rose,  satisfied  with  what 
had  been  said,  and  removing  his  outer  garment,  knelt  down  at 
the  tomb  to  receive  from  the  hands  of  the  monks  eighty  or  more 
stripes  on  his  back.  He  was  again  absolved  of  the  crime,  but 
remained  crouching  on  the  bare  floor  of  the  crypt  all  night. 

73.  Henry’s  Success ;  Rebellion  of  his  Sons.  —  In  the  eyes  of 
the  world  Henry  was  richly  rewarded  for  this  act  of  humiliation, 
for  he  soon  received  news  of  the  capture  of  the  Scottish  king,  and 
the  consequent  defeat  of  his  enemies  in  the  north.  The  king  of 
the  Scots,  William  the  Lion,  was  forced  to  make  the  treaty  of 


The  Penance  of  Henry  II 
After  an  old  painting 


78 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


Falaise  and  to  do  homage  to  Henry  as  his  overlord,  an  act  which 
was  to  have  an  influence  on  future  events.  The  few  remaining 
rebellious  barons  were  speedily  put  down,  and  all  attempts  to 
establish  baronial  independence  were  ended. 

Henry’s  sons,  instigated  probably  by  the  king  of  France,  had 
begun  active  warfare  again  in  Normandy.  The  king  hurried  back 
to  the  Continent  and  in  a  short  time  was  successful  in  quelling  the 
outbreak.  His  terms  to  the  rebels  were  generous. 

74.  Legal  and  Other  Reforms.  —  Henry  now  turned  to  matters 
of  reform.  The  first  thing  which  claimed  his  attention  was  the 
administration  of  justice.  As  early  as  ii66  he  had  directed 
the  sheriffs  in  case  of  murder,  robbery,  and  theft  to  summon  men 
of  the  neighborhood  to  investigate  the  case,  and  ordered  that  the 
accused  should  be  brought  before  a  justice  sent  from  the  courts  at 
Westminster  to  the  counties.  In  1176  he  issued  a  new  Assize,  as 
the  documents  were  called,  in  which  the  chief  authority  was  given 
to  the  justices  who  traveled  through  the  shires  on  their  circuits. 
They  were  to  gain  their  information  regarding  crime  through 
twelve  knights  of  the  neighborhood,  or,  if  this  were  not  practi¬ 
cable,  through  twelve  freemen  and  four  others.  Disputes  regard¬ 
ing  lands  were  to  be  settled  in  the  royal  courts,  and,  in  general, 
the  royal  power  was  extended  as  much  as  possible.  The  effect 
of  this  legislation  was  to  lead  the  freemen  to  look  to  the  crown  for 
justice  rather  than  to  the  barons,  and  so  to  make  legislation 
uniform  throughout  the  kingdom. 

By  the  Assize  of  Arms  (1181)  Henry  reorganized  the  fyrci  or 
militia  which  dated  back  to  the  time  of  William  the  Conqueror. 
Heretofore,  it  had  been  feudal  in  its  character ;  Henry  made  it 
national.  By  this  document  every  freeman  was  bound,  according 
to  his  ability,  to  secure  arms  so  that  he  might  be  ready  at  any 
time  to  defend  the  realm  against  rebels  or  invaders.  This  action 
of  Henry  is  a  proof  of  the  strong  position  he  had  gained,  in  that 
by  it  he  trusted  himself,  not  to  paid  foreign  troops  or  a  standing 
army,  but  to  the  English  freemen  themselves. 


REIGN  OF  HENRY  II 


79 


75.  The  Crusades.  Saladin  Tax.  ii88.  —  Among  the  great 
events  in  history  are  the  crusades.  (App.  i,  §§  59,  65.)  These 
were  military  expeditions  to  rescue  from  infidels  the  Holy 
Land  and  particularly  the  Holy  City,  Jerusalem.  They  were 
begun  in  1096,  and  in  1099  Jerusalem  was  captured  and  the 
kingdom  of  Jerusalem  set  up.  This  petty  kingdom,  owing  chiefly 
to  the  dissensions  of  the  enemies,  had  lasted  until  1187,  when  it 
fell  before  Saladin,  a  great  Mohammedan  warrior  and  statesman. 
The  Pope  now  proclaimed  a  new  crusade  and  thousands  enlisted 
in  the  holy  enterprise.  Among  those  who  took  the  cross'  were 
Henry,  his  son  Richard,  and  Philip,  King  of  France. 

In  order  to  raise  money  for  the  expenses  of  the  war  in  the  East, 
Henry  laid  a  new  tax  upon  his  English  subjects  (1188),  known  as 
the  Saladin  Tax.  This  was  levied  upon  movable  or  personal  prop¬ 
erty  and  not  upon  land,  as  previous  taxes  had  been.  Each  man 
was  allowed  to  state  the  amount  of  his  taxable  property,  but  if  any 
doubt  arose  as  to  the  truth  of  his  statement,  a  jury  of  his  neighbors 
was  summoned  to  testify.^ 

76.  Rebellion  of  Henry’s  Sons.  Death  of  Henry  II.  1189. — 
Henry  never  went  on  the  crusade.  Before  he  was  ready  to  start, 
those  who  had  promised  to  go  were  warring  among  themselves ; 
first  Henry  and  his  son  Richard  against  Philip,  and  then  Richard 
and  Philip  against  Henry.  At  the  time  of  this  last  conflict  Henry 
was  ill  and  did  not  show  his  accustomed  skill.  He  was  driven 
from  place  to  place  and  finally  was  forced  to  submit  to  Philip’s 
terms.  Among  other  things  he  was  required  to  agree  that  all  who 
had  followed  Richard  in  his  rebellions  should  be  allowed  to  con¬ 
tinue  that  allegiance.  When  the  list  of  these  was  shown  him,  the 
first  name  was  that  of  his  favorite  son,  John.  “  Henry  turned  on 
his  couch  with  a  groan.  ‘  Now,’  said  he,  ‘  let  all  things  go  as  they 

1  To  take  the  cross  meant  to  pledge  oneself  to  become  a  crusader.  “  This  was 
symbolized  by  a  small  cross  of  cloth  or  other  material  attached  to  the  shoulder  of 
the  coat  or  other  garment.’’ 

2  The  rate  was  one  tenth  upon  all  rents  and  movable  or  personal  property  for 
one  year.  This  is  the  first  known  instance  of  an  English  tax  on  personal  property. 


8o 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


will,  I  care  no  more  for  myself,  nor  for  anything  in  the  world.’  ” 
He  lingered  for  a  few  days,  repeating  again  and  again,  “Shame, 
shame  on  a  beaten  king,”  and  then  died  (1189). 

Henry  II  was  one  of  the  greatest  kings  of  England,  and  he  has 
left  an  enduring  influence  upon  its  history.  It  may  be  that  this 
policy  was  often  selfish,  but  it  is  at  the  same  time  true  that  very 
often  his  interests  and  those  of  the  realm  coincided.  He  changed 
feudalism  in  England  from  a  system  of  government  to  a  system  of 
land  tenure  ;  he  brought  the  barons  under  control ;  he  vastly  im¬ 
proved  the  administration  of  justice  ;  he  laid  the  foundation  of  the 
jury  system  ;  he  made  the  militia  national ;  he  brought  the  church 
under  the  general  control  of  the  state ;  he  gained  the  good  will  of 
the  people  at  large ;  “  he  established  a  footing  in  Ireland  and  effec¬ 
tively  asserted  the  supremacy  of  England  over  Wales  and  Scotland.” 

When  it  is  remembered  that  Henry’s  continental  holdings  were 
far  larger  than  his  British  possessions,  the  question  at  once  arises, 
why  was  he  not  equally  successful  on  the  Continent?  The  answer 
is  easily  found.  In  England,  he  bent  all  his  energies  to  make 
himself  really  king,  and  to  free  England  from  the  hindrances  of 
feudalism ;  while  on  the  Continent  he  was  simply  a  feudal  lord  in 
regard  to  many  of  the  lands  over  which  he  was  scarcely  more  than 
nominal  ruler ;  and  moreover  he  himself  on  the  Continent  upheld 
feudalism  and  was  himself  a  vassal.  Besides  this,  he  apparently 
never  expected  to  establish  a  continental  kingdom,  as  is  shown  by 
the  division  of  his  dominion  among  his  sons.  His  greatest  errors 
were  those  in  his  family  policy,  which  caused  the  misfortunes 
at  the  close  of  his  reign  and  were  responsible  for  his  pathetic  end. 

References.  Green,  Short  History,  chap,  ii,  §§  4-8 ;  Gardiner,  Stu¬ 
dents  History,  chaps,  vii-x  ;  Terry,  History,  Part  II,  chaps,  ii-vi ;  Tout,  Ad¬ 
vanced  History,  Book  II,  chaps,  i-v;  Hunt,  Norman  Britain  ;  Johnson,  Nor¬ 
mans  in  Europe,  chaps.  xiii-x\d  ;  Stubbs,  Early  Plantagenets,  chaps,  i-v  ; 
Adams  and  Stephens,  Select  Documents,  1-20;  Cheyney,  Readings,  chap,  vii, 
§§  i-H ;  Colby,  Selections,  §§  14-24;  Kendall,  Source-Book,  §§  15-22; 
Lee,  Source-Book,  chaps,  vii-viii. 


CHAPTER  VII 


NORMAN  AND  ANGEVIN  KINGS.  RICHARD  I  — JOHN 

77.  Richard  I.  1189.  —  Henry  was  succeeded  without  opposi¬ 
tion  by  Richard,  his  eldest  living  son.^  He  was  in  many  respects 
the  opposite  of  his  father,  for  while  Henry,  was  a  soldier  from 
necessity,  Richard  was  a  warrior  by  nature.  The  name  by  which 
he  was  best  known,  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion,  Richard  of  the  Lion 
Heart,  indicates  this.  Immediately  after  his  coronation,  he  began 
to  make  ready  to  join  the  crusade,  for  he  had  already  assumed  the 
cross.  To  raise  money  for  this  purpose  he  sold  office  after  office 
and  privilege  after  privilege.  He  sold  offices  to  those  who  wished 
to  buy,  and  the  right  to  resign  offices  to  those  who  wished  to  give 
them  up ;  he  declared  other  offices  vacant  and  put  them  up  to 
the  highest  bidder ;  he  sold  charters  to  cities  and  towns ;  he 
allowed  William  of  Scotland  to  buy  release  from  the  treaty  of 
Falaise  made  with  his  father  (§  73)  ;  with  the  consent  of  the 
Pope,  he  sold  the  privilege  of  staying  at  home  to  those  who, 
having  assumed  the  cross,  wished  to  be  relieved  of  the  obligation. 
Never,  perhaps,  was  there  a  monarch  who  was  so  anxious  to  raise 
money  as  he. 

Richard,  though  born  at  Oxford,  had  in  him  little  of  the 
Englishman,  and  only  seven  months  of  his  reign  of  ten  years  were 
spent  in  England.  Almost  his  whole  life  had  been  passed  in 
Aquitaine.  It  was  well  that  this  was  so,  for  it  is  almost  certain 
that  if  he  had  lived  in  England,  dominated  as  he  was  by  foreign 
ideas,  he  would  have  insisted  on  introducing  them  into  England. 

1  Prince  Henry,  who  had  been  crowned  before  his  father's  death,  and  who  had 
given  so  much  trouble,  died  in  1183,  leaving  no  children. 

81 


82 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


As  it  was,  under  his  representatives  England  had  a  far  better 
chance  to  develop  on  English  lines  than  would  have  been  possible 
had  he  himself  taken  active  part  in  the  government. 

78.  Richard  and  the  Crusade.  1189.  —  Richard  left  England 
on  the  nth  of  December,  1189.  His  adventures  and  warlike 
deeds  of  prowess  have  been  the  theme  of  many  a  romance  and 
song,  for  he  was  the  embodiment  of  the  ideal  hero  of  that  age. 
He  was  thirty-two  years  old,  full  of  the  vigor  of  early  manhood 
and  thirsting  for  opportunity  to  show  his  strength  and  bravery. 
He  started  for  the  East  in  the  latter  part  of  June,  1190,  and  for 
three  years,  in  company  with  Philip  Augustus  of  France,  he  had 
all  the  adventures  and  intrigue  that  any  one  could  wish.  There 
was  constant  quarreling  between  the  two  kings  from  the  start,  for 
they  were  rivals  and  jealous  of  each  other,  at  home  as  well  as 
abroad,  for  Richard’s  dominions  in  France  were  more  extensive 
than  those  of  Philip,  who  was  always  ready  to  enlarge  his  boun¬ 
daries  at  the  expense  of  the  English  king. 

Richard  did  not  reach  Syria  until  1191,  when  he  took  part  in 
the  siege  of  Acre,  the  greatest  stronghold  in  Palestine.  This  city 
was  taken  largely  through  his  skill,  but  then,  instead  of  a  united 
effort  to  push  on  and  take  Jerusalem,  the  crusaders  quarreled, 
and  Philip  returned  to  France  to  scheme  against  his  rival.  Richard 
continued  his  efforts  to  recapture  Jerusalem ;  twice  he  was  within 
a  few  miles  of  the  city,  but  found  himself  unable  to  go  farther 
becaiise  his  fellow  crusaders  failed  to  give  him  support.  Once, 
it  is  said,  he  gained  a  spot  from  which  he  could  have  seen  the 
holy  city,  but  he  refused  to  look,  saying  that  if  he  was  not  worthy 
to  conquer  the  city,  he  was  not  worthy  to  see  it. 

At  last  a  truce  for  three  years  was  concluded  with  the  Sultan 
Saladin,  the  most  important  feature  of  which  was  that  the  Christians 
were  allowed  to  make  pilgrimages  to  Jerusalem  in  safety. 

79.  Richard’s  Return  and  Capture.  1192.  —  Richard  now 
prepared  to  return  home.  It  was  high  time,  for  not  only  was 
Philip  Augustus  his  active  enemy,  but  his  own  brother  John  was 


REIGN  OF  RICHARD  I 


83 


doing  all  in  his  power  to  seize  the  English  throne,  an  attempt  in 
which  he  was  aided  by  Philip.  Richard,  on  his  return  from  Acre, 
was  shipwrecked  on  the  shores  of  the  Adriatic,  and  attempting  to 
make  his  way  through  Austria  in  disguise,  was 
discovered,  captured,  and  thrown  into  prison 
by  Leopold,  Duke  of  Austria,  whom  he  had 
mortally  offended  at  the  siege  of  Acre  (i  192). 

To  treat  a  crusader  in  this  fashion  was  a  serious 
offense  against  the  church,  and  the  Pope 
promptly  excommunicated  the  duke  and  laid 
his  lands  under  an  interdict.^ 

Leopold  paid  little  attention  to  this  action, 
for  Richard  was  too  valuable  a  prize  lightly  to 
be  disposed  of ;  but  he  consented  to  sell  his 
interest  in  the  prisoner’s  ransom  to  the  Em¬ 
peror  of  Germany,  Henry  VI,  who  was  also  a 
personal  enemy  of  the  English  king. 

The  ransom  demanded  by  the  emperor  was 
more  than  twice  as  much  as  the  whole  reve¬ 
nue  of  England  for  a  year.^  Enough  was 
raised  to  secure  Richard’s  liberation,  and  host¬ 
ages  were  given  to  secure  the  payment  of  the 
balance.  Richard  was  set  free  in  1194,  after 

more  than  thirteen  months  of  unjust  imprison-  olXe^thS 

teenth  century 

80.  Richard  in  England.  —  Richard  reached  England  early  in 
1194,  after  an  absence  of  more  than  four  years.  His  first  act 


Richard  I  in  Prison 


1  By  this  the  clergy  were  forbidden  to  hold  services  or  to  perform  certain  religious 
rites,  such  as  marriage,  etc. 

2  The  amount  demanded  was  150,000  marks,  or  about  100,000  pounds  sterling, 
equal  to  several  million  dollars  at  present  values.  How  much  was  actually  paid  is 
not  certain,  possibly  a  little  more  than  half,  most  of  which  probably  came  from 
Richard’s  continental  dominions.  There  is  little  foundation  for  the  story  that 
Richard’s  prison  was  discovered  by  Blondel,  one  of  the  minstrels,  who,  while  sing¬ 
ing  a  favorite  ballad  under  the  walls  of  the  castle,  heard  the  refrain  repeated  by  his 
royal  master. 


84 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


was  to  go  to  Canterbury  and  pay  his  devotions  at  the  shrine  of 
St.  Thomas  a  Becket.  He  then  proceeded  to  London,  where  he 
was  received  with  acclamation.  To  please  his  subjects,  Richard 
was  crowned  again,  this  time  at  Winchester,  “  as  if  to  wipe  off  the 
stain  of  his  bondage.”  Most  of  the  time  of  his  brief  stay  in 
England  was  taken  up  with  schemes  to  raise  money  to  pay  the 
balance  of  his  ransom.  The  methods  used  were  similar  to  those 
employed  in  collecting  funds  for  the  crusade,  that  is,  by  selling 
and  by  confiscating  offices  and  privileges.  England  was  almost  in 
a  state  of  war,  owing  to  the  plotting  of  Richard’s  brother,  Prince 
John,  and  the  French  king.  Richard  appointed  as  justiciar,  Hubert 
Walter,  .Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  placed  the  administration 
of  the  kingdom  in  his  hands.  He  was  a  faithful  servant  to  Richard 
and  a  statesman  well  trained  in  the  school  of  Henry  1 1.  Under 
his  able  rule  rebellion  was  put  down  and  the  king’s  authority 
strengthened.  Having  raised  all  the  money  he  could,  after  a  stay 
of  just  two  months,  Richard  left  England,  never  to  return. 

81.  Richard  in  France.  1194-1199.  His  Death.  1199. — 
Richard  went  to  the  Continent,  not  only  to  settle  affairs  with  Philip 
Augustus,  King  of  France,  but  because  he  had  no  fondness  for 
England,  and  loved  the  sunny  southern  lands  of  Aquitaine.  His 
continental  possessions  needed  his  presence,  for  they  were  split  up 
by  petty  jealousies  and  grievances.  It  was  owing  to  this  fact  that 
the  French  kings  so  often  stirred  up  rebellions  against  the  English 
kings  in  the  hope  that  some  of  the  territory  would  fall  into  their 
own  hands.  Richard  was  generally  successful,  but  for  five  years 
he  was  almost  continually  at  war.  At  length,  hearing  that  a 
treasure  had  been  found  on  the  land  of  one  of  his  vassals,  he 
promptly  claimed  it,  and  when  the  baron  refused  to  give  it  up, 
Richard  besieged  his  castle.  While  reconnoitering,  the  king  was 
shot  in  the  shoulder  by  an  arrow,  and  as  the  wound  was  badly 
treated,  blood  poisoning  set  in.  Thus  it  happened  that  the  great 
warrior,  who  had  fought  in  many  fierce  battles,  died  from'  a  hurt 
received  in  a  petty  quarrel. 


REIGN  OF  JOHN 


85 


82.  John.  1199.  —  Richard  left  no  children,  and  at  his  death 
but  two  legitimate  male  descendants  of  Henry  II  were  living  : 
Arthur,  son  of  Geoffrey,  third  son  of  Henry  H  ;  and  John,  the 
fourth  son.  Arthur  was  the  legal  heir,  but  he  was  a  boy  of  twelve 
years.  The  barons  of  England  had  to  choose  between  a  man 
and  a  boy,  and  it  is  not  surprising  that  they  chose  the  man. 
This  was  the  last  time  in  English  history  that  a  king  was  chosen 
in  this  way. 

By  common  consent  John  is  regarded  as  the  worst  king  England 
ever  had.  He  was  a  bad  son,  a  bad  brother,  a  bad  father,  a  bad 
friend,  and  a  bad  king.  It  is  said  of 
him  that  “every  night  he  lay  down  a 
worse  man  than  he  had  risen  up,  and 
every  morning  he  rose  a  worse  man 
than  he  had  lain  .down.”  He  “  was  a 
selfish,  cruel  tyrant  of  the  worst  type, 
extortionate  and  unjust,  treacherous 
and  vindictive,  without  regard  either 
for  the  spirit  or  the  form  of  the  law, 
and  wholly  destitute  of  religious  feel¬ 
ing.  .  .  .  What  distinguishes  his  rule 
from  that  of  others  is  its  pettiness, 
meanness,  and  spitefulness;  its  generally  irritating  character  ;  and 
the  utter  absence  of  any  redeeming  features.”  His  badness  had 
one  good  result :  it  united  against  him,  as  probably  nothing  else 
would  have  done,  the  clergy,  baronsj  and  people,  who  forced  him 
to  grant  liberties  which  benefited  all  classes  in  the  kingdom. 

83.  Resistance  in  French  Possessions.  Arthur  Murdered. 
1203.  — John  was  accepted  king  in  England,  but  on  the  Continent 
Arthur  was  supported  by  Philip  Augustus  of  France,  for  selfish 
reasons  of  his  own.  Many  of  the  barons  of  John’s  provinces  in 
France  were  hostile  to  him,  and,  angered  by  his  marriage  with 
Isabella  of  Angouleme,  rose  against  him.  John  charged  them  with 
treason.  The  barons  appealed  to  Philip  of  France,  John’s  over- 


Royal  Arms  of  England  from 
Richard  I  to  Edward  III 


86 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


lord.  He  summoned  John  to  appear  before  a  council.  John  re¬ 
fused  to  appear,  and  the  council  declared  John  guilty  of  felony. 
This  meant  the  forfeiture  of  his  fiefs  in  France.  Arthur  invaded 
Normandy.  John’s  representative  there  was  his  mother,  Eleanor, 
who  though  seventy-eight  years  old,  was  vigorous  and  shrewd.  She 
promptly  took  up  arms  against  her  grandson  Arthur,  but  was  be¬ 
sieged  by  him  until  John  came  to  the  rescue.  Arthur  was  carried 
a  prisoner  to  Rouen  by  his  uncle,  and,  according  to  popular  belief, 
was  stabbed  and  then  thrown  into  the  Seine  by  the  same  royal 
hand  (1203).  “No  friend  ever  ventured  to  assert  John’s  inno¬ 
cence,  nor  did  he  ever  venture  to  assert  it  himself,  though  re¬ 
peatedly  taxed  with  the  murder.” 

84.  John  and  Philip  Augustus.  1 203.  —  The  murder  of  Arthur 
gave  Philip  Augustus  of  France  another  excuse  to  attack  the 
English  king.  He  immediately  invaded  Normandy,  Anjou,  Maine, 
and  Touraine  and  added  them  to  his  dominions  on  the  ground  that 
as  John  had  been  found  guilty  of  felony,  these  fiefs  were  forfeited 
to  him,  who  was  John’s  liege  lord. 

85.  John  and  the  Church.  Archbishop  Langton.  1207.  The 
Interdict.  1208.  —  John  increased  the  number  of  his  enemies  by 
quarreling  with  the  church.  The  occasion  was  the  choice  of  an 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  made  necessary  by  the  death  of  Hubert 
Walter  (1205).  John  insisted  on  nominating  the  new  archbishop, 
which  was  according  to  custom,  but  the  bishops  of  the  province 
of  Canterbury  claimed  that  to  them  belonged  the  right  to  nomi¬ 
nate.  Meanwhile,  the  monks  of  the  chapter  at  Canterbury 
selected  a  man  and  sent  him  to  Rome  to  be  confirmed  by  the 
Pope.  The  Pope  at  this  time  was  Innocent  HI,  one  of  the  ablest 
of  all  the  Popes.  (App.  i,  §§  74-75.)  He  declined  to  accept 
any  of  the  candidates  proposed,  and  appointed  Stephen  Langton, 
an  English  ecclesiastic  residing  at  Rome.  According  to  custom 
and  tradition,  the  Pope  had  not  power  to  make  the  appointment, 
but  Innocent  was  always  ready  to  seize  an  opportunity  of  extend¬ 
ing  the  power  of  the  Papacy.  No  better  choice  could  have 


REIGN  OF  JOHN  87 

been  made,  though  Innocent  could  not  have  anticipated  what 
would  result  from  his  action. 

John,  incensed  at  the  Pope,  swore  that  he  would  neither  recog¬ 
nize  Langton  nor  allow  him  to  land  in  England.  But  he  had  in 
Innocent  a  wily  and  strong  antagonist  ready  to  use  all  the  weapons 
which  the  church  possessed.  Innocent  placed  England  under  an 
interdict  (1208).^  John  remained  unmoved;  then  Innocent  ex¬ 
communicated  him.  John  replied  by  seizing  the  estates  of  the 
bishops  who  published  the  decree.  But  Innocent,  going  to  the 
extreme  of  power  claimed  by  the  Papacy,  proclaimed  the  deposi¬ 
tion  of  John  from  the  throne  (1212),  and  summoned  Philip  of 
France  to  head  an  expedition  to  England  to  carry  out  the  decree 
of  excommunication,  and  to  assume  the  English  crown. 

86.  John  yields  to  the  Pope.  1213. — John  gathered  an  army 
to  resist  Philip,  but  suddenly  John  gave  way.  Around  him  on 
every  side  were  hidden  foes ;  his  oppression  of  the  barons  had 
made  enemies  of  them  all;  and  Rome,  France,  Scotland,  Ireland, 
and  Wales  were  at  war  with  him.  He  preferred  to  yield  to  the 
Pope  rather  than  to  Philip  or  to  his  own  barons.  He  therefore 
invited  the  Pope’s  legate  to  come  to  England ;  he  agreed  to 
receive  Langton  as  Archbishop  of  Canterbury;  to  give  back  all 
the  estates  of  the  church  which  he  had  confiscated ;  and  to 
restore  to  clergy  and  laity  all  rights  of  which  he  had  deprived 
them.  Two  days  later  he  surrendered  his  kingdoms  of  England 
and  Ireland  to  the  Pope,  and  received  them  back  again  as  fiefs 
of  the  Papacy,  agreeing  to  pay  for  them  a  yearly  rent  of  1000 
marks.^ 

By  this  humiliating  act  John  purchased  his  peace  with  the 
church  and  his  security  from  French  attack,  for  the  Pope  now  for¬ 
bade  further  hostilities  on  Philip’s  part.  But  these  gains  were 
more  than  offset  by  the  suspicions  which  filled  the  minds  of  the 
people  in  regard  to  their  ruler. 

1  See  §  79,  note. 

2  This  was  equivalent  to  about  £  670,  or  more  than  $  12,000  in  modem  money. 


88 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


87.  John  and  the  Barons.  1213-1215.  Battle  of  Bouvines. 
1214.  —  John,  anxious  now  to  retaliate  on  Philip,  found  that  he 
could  do  nothing  until  he  had  made  some  settlement  of  matters  at 
home.  He  therefore  summoned  four  men  from  each  county  to 
meet  at  St.  Albans  (1213),  to  agree  upon  the  damages  which  the 
clergy  had  suffered  and  which  he  had  promised  to  make  good. 
The  council,  however,  turned  its  attention  to  matters  of  reform, 
and  in  the  king’s  name  promises  of  better  things  were  made. 
The  barons  on  their  side  claimed  that  the  laws  of  Henry  I  should 
be  made  the  basis  of  reform.  John  now  tried  to  get  the  barons  to 
follow  him  to  Poitou,  but  they  refused,  first,  because  they  could  not 
serve  under  an  excommunicated  king  ;  and,  when  this  objection  had 
been  removed  by  Langton,  they  refused  on  the  ground  of  poverty, 
claiming  also  that  they  had  already  served  the  forty  days  which, 
under  feudal  law,  were  required  of  them  ;  nor  could  they  be  com¬ 
pelled  to  go  beyond  the  seas.  The  real  reason  of  their  refusal 
was  that  though  of  Norman  descent  and  still  speaking  French, 
these  barons  had  become  Englishmen,  having  all  their  interests 
in  England,  and  no  interest  in  the  designs  of  John  upon  France. 
John  was  enraged  at  this  action,  but  could  do  nothing.  The 
movement  to  resist  John  had  become  general.  It  was  headed 
by  Langton,  who,  at  a  council  held  at  St.  Paul’s,  laid  before  those 
present  the  charter  of  Henry  I,  promising  reforms.  This  was 
received  with  joy  and  with  demands  that  this  charter  should  be 
renewed  by  John. 

In  the  meantime  John  had  joined  a  league  to  support  the 
Emperor  Otto  IV  against  the  Emperor  Frederick  H  and  Philip  of 
France;  he  managed  to  take  with  him  a  number  of  troops  from 
England,  and  was  successful  in  regaining  some  of  his  lost  lands 
south  of  the  river  Loire.  But  another  army  in  connection  with 
the  forces  of  his  allies  met  Philip’s  forces  at  Bouvines,  in  P’landers, 
and  was  routed,  July  27,  1214.  As  a  result,  England  lost  all 
the  Angevin  territory.  (App.  i,  §  80.)  John’s  power  and 
prestige  also  were  so  much  injured  that  the  barons  and  their 


THE  GREAT  CHARTER 


89 


associates  were  emboldened  to  persist  in  their  demands,  which 
were  put  in  writing  by  Archbishop  Langton  and  placed  before 
the  king.  When  he  refused  to  accede  to  them,  an  army  was 
raised  to  force  him  to  yield.  London  ranged  itself  on  the  side 
of  the  barons,  and  so,  deserted  by  almost  all  except  the  hired 
troops  he  had  brought  from  the  Continent,  John  was  compelled 
to  yield. 

88.  The  Great  Charter.  1215.  —  The  king,  clergy,  and  barons 
met  at  Runnymede  on  the  Thames,  not  far  from  Windsor,  and 


itu\Xu  WAT  P  ^  we  ct  onimw 

_ _ _ 

^\xa  2,ii3!Vol’\A^oJJcrVdx(i^S 

tectAoCoio^rn)iYdS 

Facsimile  of  the  Beginning  of  the  Great  Charter 


there,  on  June  15,  1215,  he  signed  Magna  Carta,  or  the  Great 
Charter,  which  became  one  of  the  most  valuable  guarantees  of 
English  liberty. 

Previous  charters  had  been  granted  with  professed  willingness  ; 
the  Great  Charter  was  wrung  from  John.  Moreover,  it  was  gained 
by  all  the  classes  working  together  against  the  king.  Though 
it  was  primarily  for  the  benefit  of  the  barons,  it  also  concerned 
the  rights  and  privileges  of  all  classes.  It  contained  little,  if  any¬ 
thing,  that  was  new,  but  it  brought  together  in  one  document 
many  of  the  privileges  which  had  been  granted  from  time  to  time. 
The  principle  underlying  all  the  sixty-three  articles  is  that  there 
should  be  fair  dealing  and  justice,  not  only  as  between  king  and 
subject,  but  also  as  between  man  and  man.  It  must  not,  how- 


90 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


ever,  be  overlooked  that  in  some  points  the  charter  was  narrow 
and  partial,  as,  for  instance,  in  regard  to  the  church. 

The  main  provisions  of  the  charter  may  be  grouped  under  five 
heads  :  (i)  The  church;  this  was  to  be  free  and  to  have  all  its 
rights  and  privileges  unimpaired.  What  these  were,  is  not  ex¬ 
plained,  and  so  an  open  door  was  left  for  doubt  as  to  what  rights 
and  privileges  were  meant.  (2)  Feudal  rights  and  customs : 
there  had  been  great  abuse  of  these,  both  by  the  kings  and  by 
the  barons  themselves  in  the  treatment  of  their  vassals.  Some 
of  these  abuses  were  remedied  or  lessened.  (3)  The  rights  and 
privileges  of  the  towns  :  London  and  all  other  cities,  boroughs, 
villages,  ports,  etc.,  were  to  enjoy  all  their  old  liberties  and  cus¬ 
toms  by  land  and  sea.  (4)  Trade  and  commerce  :  “  Merchants 
from  friendly  states  to  be  free  to  come  and  go,  and  trade  subject 
only  to  the  payment  of  established  customs  and  duties.”  Native  . 
subjects  to  come  and  go  as  they  pleased,  except  in  time  of  war. 
(5)  Certain  general  clauses,  perhaps  the  most  important  of  all. 
Some  of  these  were,  “Justice  not  to  be  sold  or  delayed  or  refused 
to  any  man.”  “No  free  man  to  be  taken  or  imprisoned  or  disseized  ^ 
or  outlawed  or  in  any  way  destroyed,  except  by  the  lawful  judgment 
of  his  peers,  or  by  the  laws  of  the  land.”  Besides  these  matters, 
there  were  directions  regarding  the  summoning  of  councils,  the 
administration  of  justice,  etc.  Almost  every  important  interest 
of  the  realm  was  at  least  touched  upon. 

89.  Renewal  of  Struggle  between  John  and  the  Barons. 
1215.  —  Agreements  are  of  little  account  unless  some  method  is 
provided  for  carrying  them  out,  and  so  the  barons,  for  the  first 
time,  made  such  a  provision.  It  was  provided,  first,  that  John 
should  dismiss  the  foreign  troops  which  he  had  hired  and  brought 
into  England ;  and,  second,  that  a  body  of  twenty-five  barons 
should  be  chosen  by  the  barons  to  hear  any  complaints  of  in¬ 
fringements  of  the  Charter  by  the  king,  and  in  case  of  failure 

1  "  Disseized,”  that  is,  have  his  land  taken  from  him.  “  Peers,"  his  equals  in 
rank. 


REIGN  OF  JOHN  9 1 

to  redress,  they  were  to  have  the  right  to  enforce  by  arms  its 
provisions. 

John  had  no  intention  of  keeping  the  agreement  into  which  he 
had  entered.  Pope  Innocent,  indignant  that  a  matter  which  con¬ 
cerned  his  feudal  authority  should  have  been  settled  without 
appeal  to  him,  absolved  John  from  his  oath 
of  agreement,  threatened  to  excommunicate 
the  barons,  and,  a  little  later,  suspended 
Archbishop  Langton  and  summoned  him  to 
Rome.  All  this  was  a  serious  blow  to  the 
cause  of  liberty.  The  removal  of  Langton 
took  away  the  real  head  of  the  movement  and 
the  barons  became  disorganized.  Meanwhile 
John  with  his  hired  troops  began  to  lay  waste 
the  lands  of  the  barons,  and  for  a  time  it 
seemed  as  if  he  was  to  be  victor. 

90.  Louis  of  France  invited  to  England. 

Death  of  John.  1216.  —  The  barons  felt 
forced  to  call  in  foreign  aid,  and  sent  to 
Louis,  son  of  the  king  of  France,  asking  him 
to  come  to  England  and  assume  the  English 
crown.  As  Louis  had  married  Jolm’s  niece, 
he  had  some  slight  support  for  his  claim. 

He  asserted  that  John  had  forfeited  the  crown 
by  the  murder  of  Prince  Arthur  and  by  his  Worces- 

failure  to  keep  his  coronation  oath.  These 
were  flimsy  pretexts;  the  only  valid  reason  for  the  coming  of 
Louis  being  the  invitation  of  the  barons  and  the  English  people. 

Louis  accepted  the  offer  and  came  to  England  with  an  army  in 
May,  1216.  Fortunately  for  the  English,  John  died  suddenly, 
October  19,  1216,  and  the  land  was  saved  from  civil  war.  John’s 
eldest  son,  Henry,  was  about  nine  years  old,  and  the  barons  felt 
that  affairs  would  be  safer  in  the  hands  of  a  young  English  prince 
controlled  by  Englishmen  than  in  those  of  a  foreigner,  Louis, 


92 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


finding  that  he  was  losing  his  adherents  one  after  another,  resigned 
his  claim  and  returned  to  France.  Meanwhile,  William  Marshall, 
Earl  of  Pembroke,  who  had  been  appointed  “  Governor  of  the 
King  and  the  Kingdom,”  issued  in  a  somewhat  revised  forni  the 
Great  Charter,  thereby  indicating  the  character  of  the  government 
which  might  be  expected.' 

The  reign  of  John  will  always  be  remembered  for  two  events  of 
the  utmost  importance  in  the  development  of  the  English  people. 
These  were :  (i)  The  loss  of  Normandy,  which  made  England  a 
kingdom  whose  chief  interests  lay  in  the  British  Isles,  and  there¬ 
fore  allowed  the  English  to  develop  on  their  own  lines,  thus  pre¬ 
serving  the  essential  features  of  Anglo-Saxon  institutions.  (2)  The 
signing  of  the  Magna  Carta,  a  document  setting  forth  the  most 
important  constitutional  privileges  of  Englishmen,  arranged  in  a 
convenient  form,  which  could  be  appealed  to  from  time  to  time. 

References. —  Green,  Short  History,  chap,  ii,  §§6-9;  chap,  iii,  §§  1-3; 
Gardiner,  Sttuient's  History,  chaps,  xi-xii;  Terry,  History,  Part  II,  chaps, 
vi-vii;  Tout,  Advanced  History,  Book  III,  chaps,  vi-vii;  Stubbs,  Early 
Plantagencts,  chaps,  vi-vii;  Adams  and  Stephens,  Select  Documents,  §§ 
19-29;  Cheyney,  Readings,  chap,  viii,  §§  iv-v;  Colby,  Selections,  §§  27, 
29-30;  Kendall,  Source-Book,  §  24;  Lee,  Source-Book,  chap,  viii,  §§  64, 
65,  chaps,  ix-x. 

1  The  chief  revision  was  the  omission  of  the  clauses  which  prohibited  the  raising 
of  taxes  without  the  consent  of  the  Great  Council,  and  those  which  related  to  the 
appointment  of  the  body  of  twenty-five  men  to  enforce  the  Charter.  It  was  doubt¬ 
less  felt,  now  that  John  was  out  of  the  way,  that  these  provisions,  so  contrary  to  the 
general  ideas  of  the  age,  might  be  dropped. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


NORMAN  BRITAIN.  1066-1216 

91.  General  Results  of  the  Norman  Conquest.  —  Among  the 
results  of  the  Norman  Conquest  and  rule  were  a  growth  of  unity 
among  the  people,  and  the  establishment  of  an  organized  govern¬ 
ment  with  an  almost  despotic  king,  whose  power  was  only  occasion¬ 
ally  held  in  check  by  the  church  and  the  nobles  (or  barons).  The 
semifeudalism  existing  in  England  was  modified  and  extended 
so  as  to  increase  the  power  of  the  king.  “  William  made  the  title 
to  all  land  depend  on  his  own  grant  and  bound  every  landowner  to 
himself  by  a  tie  of  allegiance.” 

A  marked  difference  from  continental  feudalism  is  seen  in  the 
fact  that  in  England  there  was  no  privileged  noble  caste.  The 
son  of  a  noble  did  not  share  his  father’s  honors  or  privileges, 
though  he  might  have  honors  and  privileges  conferred  on  him 
independently  of  his  father.  This  old  English  custom  has  never 
been  changed. 

The  Conquest  made  England  a  European  nation,  and  the  Nor¬ 
man  kings  called  themselves  Kings  of  the  English.  Hurtful  as 
her  continental  wars  were  in  many  regards,  they  certainly  gave 
England  a  place  in  continental  politics  and  increased  her  self- 
respect. 

92.  Domestic  Life.  — There  was  comparatively  little  change  in 
the  domestic  life  of  the  people,  especially  among  the  lower  classes. 
In  medieval  times  social  habits  and  customs  were  far  more  station¬ 
ary  than  in  modern  times.  Among  the  upper  classes  the  manners 
and  customs  were  rather  more  refined  than  before  the  Conquest. 
The  Norman  was  not  as  hearty  an  eater  as  the  Englishman,  and 
preferred  lighter  and  more  delicately  prepared  food.  Continental 

93 


94 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


luxuries  were  introduced,  and  the  dress  of  the  upper  classes 
became  more  elaborate.  The  tunics  were  richly  embroidered, 
and  the  shoes  had  pointed  toes  carried  out  to  an  absurd  length. 
The  Englishman  wore  his  hair  long,  the  Norman  cut  his  short, 
and  shaved  his  face.  The  character  of  the  houses  and  the  general 
manner  of  living  made  social  intercourse  between  men  and  women, 
the  youth,  and  boys  and  girls  easy,  and  these  facts  partly  explain 
the  low  plane  of  morality  which  is  found  in  the  chronicles  and 
romances  of  the  age.  The  so-called  chivalry  of  the  Middle  Ages 
was  too  often  only  on  the  surface.  The  medieval  man  and  the 
“gallant”  were  often  brutes  in  their  treatment  of  women  and  of 
those  whom  they  considered  beneath  them. 

93.  The  People.  —  By  the  opening  of  the  thirteenth  century 
there  was  little  distinction  between  the  descendants  of  the  Nor¬ 
man  conquerors  and  the  English.  Thrown  together  in  close  asso¬ 
ciation,  intermarriages  were  a  common  occurrence  among 
almost  all  classes,  and  the  children  of  these  marriages  looked 
upon  themselves  as  Englishmen,  so  that  the  conquerors  and  con¬ 
quered  very  soon  became  like  each  other  in  manners  and  habits. 
Undoubtedly  one  reason  of  this  was  the  difficulty  of  communica¬ 
tion  and  transportation.  The  Norman  was  practically  cut  off  from 
his  old  home,  and  was  compelled  willingly  or  unwillingly  to  adapt 
himself  to  his  new  surroundings.  His  children  never  knew  the 
home  of  their  fathers  on  the  Continent,  and  with  them  of  course 
English  influences  would  prevail. 

94.  Classes.  —  Land  continued  to  be  the  great  source  of  wealth 
and  position.  As  under  Saxon  rule,  the  earls  came  first,  then  the 
greater  barons,  and  then  the  lesser  barons,  and  next  the  knights.* 
Below  the  knights  came  the  small  freeholders  or  free  tenants,  who 
had  houses  and  lands  of  their  own  and  who  made  a  small  annual 

1  The  earl  was  formerly  the  eorl;  the  greater  barons  were  large  landowners 
and  received  individual  summons  to  the  king's  council  ;  the  lesser  barons  were 
smaller  landowners  and  were  summoned  by  means  of  a  writ  directed  to  the  sheriff 
of  their  county  or  shire  ;  the  knight  was  originally  an  armed  and  mounted  soldier 
and  afterward  a  landowner  smaller  than  a  lesser  baron. 


NORMAN  BRITAIN 


95 


payment,  something  like  the  modern  ground  rent,  to  the  lord  of 
the  manor.  The  free  tenant  could  not  sell  his  land  without  mak¬ 
ing  a  payment  to  the  lord  of  the  manor  for  the  privilege,  and 
when  he  died  his  heirs  had  to  make  a  payment  on  succession. 

Next  came  the  villeins.  These  were  like  serfs ;  they  could  not 
move  away  from  the  manor  or  be  married  without  the  permission 
of  the  lord  of  the  manor ;  they  paid  a  small  ground  rent  for  the 
land  they  occu¬ 
pied,  and  were  in 
addition  bound  to 
perform  various 
services  for  the 
lord  of  the  manor, 
such  as  to  plow 
his  land  and  carry 
in  his  grain  at  time 
of  harvest.  Their 
services  were  regu¬ 
lated  not  by  law 
but  by  custom. 

Perhaps  on  the 
average  more  than  half  of  the  villein’s  time  vvas  given  to  the  lord 
of  the  manor. 

95.  Manorial  System.  —  The  relation  of  the  landowner  to  his 
tenants  was  rather  that  of  a  ruler  than  a  simple  owner ;  he  was 
like  the  king  of  a  little  state.  He  not  only  controlled  the  land 
but  had  jurisdiction,  also.  There  was  a  manorial  court,  where  a 
great  variety  of  cases  were  tried,  such  as  disputes  as  to  land,  suc¬ 
cession  to  property,  failure  to  perform  required  or  customary 
duties,  and  criminal  cases. 

The  manors  varied  greatly  in  size,  and  one  lord  might  have 
several  manors,  and  the  king  several  hundred.  These  manors  were 
cultivated  under  the  “open  field  system.”  The  land  was  divided 
into  strips  containing  an  acre  or  less  in  each,  a  certain  number  of 


Manor  House  in  Shropshire 
Built  in  the  twelfth  century 


96 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


which  were  held  by  the  lord  and  were  cultivated  solely  for  his 
benefit.  The  strips  were  separated  from  each  other  by  a  narrow 
piece  of  unplowed  land.  These  strips  were  cultivated  according 
to  some  system  of  rotation  of  crops.  The  variety  was  small : 
wheat,  rye,  barley,  field  peas,  and  beans  were  the  chief;  root 
crops  were  generally  neglected,  and  potatoes  were  as  yet  unknown. 
Hay  for  winter  was  obtained  from  meadow  land,  which  was  highly 

valued  and  considered  worth  at 
least  as  much  as  arable  land. 
Pasture  was  obtained  on  the  un¬ 
cultivated  land  and  in  the  woods. 
After  the  hay  was  mown  and 
cured,  the  meadows  were  also 
used  for  pasture  and  so  were  the 
fields  after  the  crops  were  har¬ 
vested,  As  a  rule,  the  pasturage 
was  common  and  the  animals  were 
under  the  care  of  shepherds  or 
other  guardians. 

The  land  of  any  one  man  was 
not  necessarily  or  usually  in  one 
place,  but  was  scattered.  He 
would  own  a  strip  here  and  an¬ 
other  somewhere  else,  and  still 
others  at  other  places.'  The  land 
of  his  neighbors  as  well  as  that  of 
the  lord  of  the  manor  would  be 
similarly  scattered.  The  land,  the  woods,  and  meadows  owned 
by  the  lord  of  the  manor  were  called  the  “  demesne,”  and  not  in¬ 
frequently  amounted  to  fully  half  of  the  whole  manor.  Systems 
of  agriculture  were  poor ;  eight  or  nine  bushels  of  wheat  to  the 

1  A  modification  of  the  open  field  system  still  survives  in  Germany.  Within  a 
very  few  years,  in  a  village  near  Olmiitz,  Moravia,  one  man  had  eighteen  different 
holdings  of  land,  no  two  of  which  touched  each  other. 


In  Yorkshire  the  shaded  strips  were 
the  share  of  the  priest. 


NORMAN  BRITAIN 


97 


acre  was  considered  a  good  yield.  Tools  were  primitive  and  in¬ 
effective.  Owing  to  the  high  cost  of  iron,  even  plows  were  often 
of  wood  and  did  little  more  than  scratch  the  ground.^ 

There  was  much  that  was  ineffective  and  objectionable  in  this 
system.  Life  also  was  hard,  and  to  us  seems  to  have  had  few  en¬ 
joyments,  On  the  other  hand,  the  close  relationship  between 
those  who  lived  on  the  manor,  the  common  pasture,  the  common 
woods,  the  strips  of  land  inextricably  mixed  up,  the  tenants’  share 
in  the  common  service  for  the  lord  of  the  manor,  their  one  church, 
and  their  one  court,  bound  them  closely  together.  When  to  this  sys¬ 
tem  is  added  the  difficulty  of  communication  with  other  parts  of 
the  country  the  result  was  a  self-centered  community  which  cer¬ 
tainly  must  have  been  a  powerful  factor  in  making  the  country 
and  its  institutions  stable. 

96.  Towns  and  Town  Life.  —  Perhaps  in  no  field  of  develop¬ 
ment  was  there  greater  change  than  in  the  towns.  These  under 
Norman  rule  increased  greatly  in  number  and  importance.  At 
the  close  of  the  reign  of  John  (1216)  there  were  about  two  hun¬ 
dred  towns  in  England.  Of  these,  I^ondon,  with  a  possible  popu¬ 
lation  of  25,000,  stood  first,  followed  by  York  and  Bristol  with 
about  10,000  each.  The  average  size  was  probably  about  2500. 
These  towns  were  generally  protected  by  walls,  gates,  and  some¬ 
times  by  moats,  also.  Though  the  government  of  these  towns  varied 
somewhat,  all  held  charters  from  the  king,  giving  the  town  certain 
privileges  or  guaranteeing  old  customs.  Each  town  regulated  its 
own  concerns,  and  paid  taxes  to  the  king  as  a  community,  so  the 
townsman  was  free  from  the  petty  exactions  of  a  lord  of  the 
manor.  All  inhabitants  of  the  town,  however,  had  not  equal  privi¬ 
leges,  for  these  were  based  on  ownership  of  property  within  the 

r  The  '■  three  field  system  ”  prevailed  to  a  great  extent.  This  was  to  let  one 
third  of  the  land  lie  fallow  for  a  year;  one  third  to  be  planted  with  spring-sown 
crops;  and  one  third  with  autumn-sown  crops.  The  next  year  the  fallow  land 
would  be  planted  with  an  autumn  or  spring  crop ;  that  which  had  had  a  spring 
crop  with  an  autumn  crop  or  would  be  let  lie  fallow,  and  so  on.  In  the  fourth  year 
the  first  field  would  lie  fallow  again. 


98 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


town  limits.  As  the  business  of  the  countryman  was  agriculture, 
so  the  business  of  the  townsman  was  trade  of  some  sort,  or  man¬ 
ufacturing,  or  both,  though  some  townsmen  owned  land  outside 
the  town,  which  they  farmed. 

97.  Merchant  Gilds.  — There  had  gradually  grown  up  a  system 
of  organizations  known  as  gilds,  the  object  of  which  was  to  pro¬ 
tect  and  regulate  the  trade  and  industries  of  the  town.  Every 
particular  of  trade  was  carefully  regulated  so  as  to  preserve  as  far 
as  possible  the  monopoly  to  each  gild.  Trading  by  foreigners 
was  particularly  guarded  against,  and  they  were  allowed  to  buy 
and  sell  only  under  the  most  rigid  rules.  The  merchant  gilds 
were  also  somewhat  of  the  nature  of  mutual  benefit  organizations.^ 

98.  Castles.  —  Very  few  castles  appear  to  have  existed  in 
England  before  the  Conquest,  but  one  of  the  first  actions  of  the 
Conqueror  was  to  build  a  castle  wherever  he  wished  to  secure 
obedience  to  his  rule.  This  was,  naturally,  often  near  or  in  a 
town.  The  building  was  raised  on  a  mound  in  a  commanding 
situation,  from  which  its  garrison  could  keep  watch  and  sally  forth 
when  occasion  required.  Besides  royal  castles  a  large  number 
were  erected  by  the  great  lords.  These  fortresses  were  at  first 
made  of  wood,  but  soon  stone  was  substituted.  The  prevailing 
type  was  a  square  keep  of  massive  construction,  with  walls  of 
great  thickness,^  and  with  small  and  high  windows.  Around  this 
keep  were  often  small  structures  of  wood  or  stone  used  in  times 
of  peace.  The  White  Tower  of  the  Tower  of  London,  begun  by 
William  I  in  1078,  and  that  of  Newcastle  built  in  1080,  are  exam¬ 
ples  of  the  earlier  type  of  stone  castles,  and  Newark,  Rochester, 
and  Castle  Rising,  built  during  the  troublous  reign  of  Stephen, 
are  examples  of  the  later  type.® 

99.  Architecture.  —  The  English  were  by  no  means  deficient  in 
architecture.  The  prevailing  type  of  the  early  Norman  churches^ 

1  Merchant  Gilds  must  be  distinguished  from  the  Craft  Gilds,  which  for  the  most 
part  comelater.  2  xhe  walls  of  the  White  Tower  are  fifteen  feet  thick. 

3  See  pictures  on  pages  54  and  65. 

*  Fine  architecture  was  almost  confined  to  churches,  monasteries,  and  castles. 


NORMAN  BRITAIN 


99 


was  massive,  with  round  arches  and  heavy  round  pillars,  either 
severely  plain,  or  but  slightly  ornamented.  Among  the  finest 
remaining  e.xamples  are  the  nave  of  Durham  Cathedral,  Norwich 
Cathedral,  and  parts  of  Winchester ;  of  the  later  period  there  are 
the  cathedrals  at  Peterborough  and  Ely. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  twelfth  century  the  pointed,  or  what  is 
known  as  the  Gothic,  style  came  into  use.  This  had  the  great 


The  Choir  of  Durham  Cathedral 


advantage  of  allowing  stone  vaulted  roofs,  for  which  the  Norman 
style  was  not  as  well  suited.  The  Gothic  also  allowed  slender  and 
graceful  columns,  loftier  ceilings,  larger  and  pointed  windows, 
greater  ornamentation,  and  a  lighter  effect  generally.  The  change 
was  gradual,  and  one  may  see  in  the  same  cathedral  two  or  more 
styles  in  close  proximity.* 

The  Normans  were  great  builders,  and  hundreds  of  earlier 
churches  were  pulled  down,  and  new  ones  built  in  their  stead,  often 
on  the  sites  of  the  old. 

1  It  is  impossible  to  give  exact  dates  when  a  change  is  gradual,  but  the  Gothic 
was  practically  fixed  by  1200. 


lOO 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


100.  Monasticism  and  Monasteries. — The  growth  of  monasti- 
cism  and  of  monasteries  in  Europe  from  the  ninth  to  the  twelfth 
century  was  very  great  (.-^pp.  i,  §§  47-50),  and  England  was 
no  exception.  The  Norman  was  fond  of  the  system  and  greatly 
assisted  in  its  development  on  English  soil.  Many  monasteries 
were  set  up  and  received  large  grants  of 
land.  It  was  said,  and  doubtless  believed 
by  many,  that  only  in  and  through  the 
cloister  could  the  religious  life  of  the 
people  be  reformed ;  to  give  to  a  mon¬ 
astery  was  held  to  be  a  duty.  The  Nor¬ 
man  establishments  were  at  first  of  the 
order  of  St.  Benedict,  or  Benedictines; 
and  afterwards,  in  the  twelfth  century, 
mostly  Cistercians  or  White  Monks,  an 
offshoot  of  the  Benedictines.  These  had 
a  stricter  and  more  ascetic  rule  than  the 
Benedictines  and  their  church  services 
were  much  more  simple.  They  generally 
sought  quiet  and  retired  places  for  their 
buildings. 

Their  advent  was  contemporaneous 
with  a  religious  revival  of  wide  extent, 
and  the  very  severity  of  their  rule  at¬ 
tracted  people  of  all  classes.  Their  es¬ 
tablishments  were  most  frequent  in  the 

Early  English  Gothic  north  of  England.  The  remains  of  Tin- 
Spire  “  ,  ^ 

tern,  Rievaulx,  and  Fountains  abbeys 

bear  eloquent  testimony  to  the  wealth  and  power  which  they  at¬ 
tained.  For,  like  all  other  foundations,  prosperity  was  followed  by 
relaxation  in  discipline  and  in  habits  of  life.  The  Cistercians  and 
the  kindred  orders  undoubtedly  did  service  in  reclaiming  waste 
lands,  in'  carrying  on  and  improving  some  arts  and  trades,  and  in 
preserving  manuscripts  and  developing  literature.  But  the  system 


NORMAN  BRITAIN 


lOI 


vvas  itself  hurtful  in  that  it  tended  to  lessen  the  sense  of  social 
obligation,  and  the  very  charity  of  the  monks,  though  well  mean¬ 
ing,  was  often  harmful  rather  than  helpful.  They  seem  to  have 
done  nothing  in  the  twelfth  century  for  secular  education. 

101.  Education;  Universities.  —  The  Norman  period  saw  the 
revival  of  education,  a  part  of  the  general  European  movement. 
(App.  I,  §  73.)  At  first  education  was  for  those  who  expected 
to  enter  the  church  as  clerks  or  clergy,  but  through  many  influ- 


Ruins  of  Fountains  Abbey 


ences,  among  them  that  of  the  crusades,  the  desire  for  education 
spread,  and  secular  education  came  into  being.  The  teachers  at 
first  were  churchmen,  but  afterwards  laymen  took  up  the  task. 
Round  these  teachers  gathered  students  of  various  ages,  and  in 
time  permanent  teaching  centers  were  established.  The  greatest 
of  those  on  the  Continent  was  at  Paris,  to  which  thousands  of  stu¬ 
dents  flocked.^  The  exact  date  of  the  founding  of  Oxford  and 
Cambridge  cannot  be  fixed.  One  Robert  Pullein,  who  had  been 
trained  at  Paris,  began  to  lecture  on  the  Scriptures  at  Oxford  in 
1133,  and  this  is  the  first  known  date  of  instruction  being  given, 


1  For  a  fuller  account  of  the  rise  of  the  universities,  see  §  122. 


102 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


though  a  reference  is  made  to  Oxford  as  a  place  for  students, 
and  to  a  Norman,  Theobald,  as  a  lecturer,  as  early  as  1 1 1 7.  Cam¬ 
bridge  is  said  to  have  been  begun  by  a  secession  of  students  from 
Oxford  in  1209. 

102.  Language  and  Literature.  —  The  effect  of  the  Conquest  on 
language  was  to  make  English  the  language  of  the  people.  The 
Norman  landowners  and  those  around  the  court  spoke  Norman 
French.  Of  the  first  seven  Norman  kings,  from  William  I  to 
John,  it  is  likely  that  only  Henry  II  could 
both  understand  and  speak  English.  Henry 
I  is  said  to  have  been  able  to  understand  but 
not  to  speak  it.  The  monks  and  clergy 
wrote  and  spoke  Latin.  This  was  the  uni¬ 
versal  language  of  the  church  and  of  learned 
men,  and  all  but  the  most  elementary  in¬ 
struction  was  given  in  it.  Jilost  of  the  literary 
work  that  was  done  in  England  during  the 
Norman  period  was  in  Latin.^  The  language 
of  the  English  was  less  affected  by  the  Nor¬ 
man  than  by  the  Danish  conquest ;  but  not 
having  a  literature  to  give  it  a  standard,  a 
number  of  dialects  were  the  result.  The 
three  chief  ones  were  the  southern,  the 

middle,  and  the  northern.  It  is  from 
Tower  of  Magdalen  ,  , 

College,  Oxford  the  middle  English  that  our  modern  English 

has  sprung. 

The  close  of  the  twelfth  century  saw  the  beginning  of  a  new 
literary  movement  which  was  to  develop  into  a  national  English 
literature.  The  great  pioneer  in  this  development  was  Layamon 
(about  1200),  a  priest  of  Ernley-upon-Severn.  His  great  work. 
The  Brut,  consisting  of  over  32,000  lines,  is  a  history  of  Britain 
based  on  legends.  The  poet’s  chief  object,  he  says  himself, 

r  Such  as  the  Chronicles  of  William  of  Malmesbury  (d.  1143  (?)),  Geoffrey  of 
Monmouth  (d.  1154),  and  Roger  of  Hoveden  (d.  1201  (?)). 


NORMAN  BRITAIN 


103 


was  to  “  tell  the  noble  deeds  of  Englishmen  ”  in  their  own 
tongued 

103.  Government ;  Courts  ;  etc.  —  Various  changes  in  the  gov¬ 
ernment  have  been  described  in  the  previous  chapters,  but  the 
greatest  was  in  respect  to  the  power  of  the  king,  which  had  become 
almost  despotic.  The  old  Witenagemote  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
times  was  replaced  by  the  Great  Council,  which  was  composed  of 
the  greater  tenants  of  the  crown,  but  it  had  comparatively  little 
real  power.  It  criticised,  but  there  is  little  evidence  for  supposing 
that  any  great  laws  were  either  begun  or  altered  by  it.  The  system 
of  law  courts  was  greatly  developed,  especially  under  Henry  II. 
The  great  officers  of  government  were  the  Justiciar,  the  king’s 
chief  adviser  or  minister,  and  his  regent  when  absent  from  the 
country  ;  the  Chancellor,  who  was  the  Secretary  and  holder  of  the 
great  seal,  and  issuer  of  state  documents ;  and  the  Treasurer  or 
financial  officer.  Up  to  the  close  of  the  twelfth  century  and  later, 
these  offices  were  generally  held  by  church  dignitaries.  The 
reason  for  this  was,  partly  because  ecclesiastics  were  the  best 
educated  men,  and  partly  because  being  unmarried  there  was 
no  risk  of  the  office  becoming  hereditary,  which  might  be  hurtful 
to  kingly  authority.  Minor  courts  and  local  government  have 
already  been  touched  upon. 

References. — Traill,  Social  England, I,  chap,  iii;  Cheyney,  Industrial 
and  Social  England,  chap.  1,  §§  6-7;  chaps,  ii-iv;  Tout,  Advanced  History, 
Book  II,  chap,  viii  ;  A.  Jessop,  Coining  of  the  Friars,  etc.,  Essays,  ii-iii; 
Cheyney,  Readings,  chap,  ix,  §§  i-iv;  Colby,  Selections,  §§  25,  28;  Ken¬ 
dall,  Source-Book,  §  23;  Lee,  Source-Book,  chap,  viii,  §§  63,  64;  chap,  ix, 


§  67. 


1  The  opening  lines  of  the  poem  are :  — 


Or  in  modern  English :  — 
A  priest  was  on  the  land, 
Layamon  was  he  hight  (called); 
He  was  Lovenath's  son; 
Gracious  to  him  be  the  Lord 
He  dwelled  at  Ernley, 

On  Severn*s  Bank." 


“  An  preost  wes  on  leoden, 
Layamon  wes  ihoten, 

He  wes  Leovenathes  sone; 
Li  the  him  beo  Drihte; 

He  wonede  at  Ernleye 
Upon  Sevcrne  Stothe.** 


CHAPTER  IX 


RISE  OF  THE  ENGLISH  NATION  AND  GROWTH  OF 
PARLIAMENT 

104.  Henry  III.  1216.  —  The  reign  of  Henry  III  is  one  of 
the  longest  in  English  history,'  and  in  the  course  of  it  Henry  suc¬ 
ceeded  in  getting  the  ill  will  of  all  classes.  He  was  vain  and  un¬ 
trustworthy,  weak  and  vacillating ;  on  the  other  hand  he  was,  as 
compared  with  his  father.  King  John,  and  his  ancestors,  moral  and 
religious.  He  spent  much  money  in  the  building  and  improvement 
of  churches,  and  he  was  always  ready  to  listen  to  the  claims  of  the 
Papacy  and  yield  to  them,  even  at  the  expense  of  his  own  subjects. 
His  heart  was  on  the  Continent  rather  than  in  England,  and  he 
filled  his  court  with  foreigners.  He  was  fond  of  pomp  and  mag¬ 
nificence  and  was  very  extravagant.  It  is  said  that  his  debts 
amounted  to  four  times  his  annual  income,  and  to  raise  funds 
offices  were  sold  and  money  wrung  in  every  possible  way  from 
all  classes. 

His  reign  is  divided  into  four  fairly  well-defined  periods:  (i) 
the  period  of  his  minority  (1216-1227);  (2)  that  of  personal 
rule  (1227-1258)  ;  (3)  the  period  of  the  Barons’  Wars  and  Pro¬ 
visions  of  Oxford  (1258-1265);  (4)  a  period  of  peace  and 
prosperity  for  the  country,  a  time  when  he  was  under  the  influence 
of  his  son,  afterward  Edward  I  (1265-1272). 

105.  Minority  of  Henry  III.  1216-1227.  —  (i)  During  the 
early  years  of  Henry’s  minority  the  government  was  under  the 
strong  hand  of  William  Marshall,  Earl  of  Pembroke,  who,  before 
his  death  in  1219,  had  succeeded  both  in  expelling  the  French  and 
in  restoring  order ;  he  had  also  more  than  once  confirmed  the 

1  Henry  reigned  fifty-six ;  George  1 1 1,  sixty;  and  Victoria,  si.\ty-four  years. 

104 


REIGN  OF  HENRY  III 


105 


Great  Charter.  He  was  followed  by  Hubert  de  Burgh,  an  able, 
patriotic  man,  who  was  determined  that  England  should  be  gov¬ 
erned  for  the  benefit  of  the  English.  He  refused  to  admit  the 
papal  claims  upon  England  and  dismissed  from  the  country  the 
legates  that  the  Pope  had  sent.  He  maintained  the  authority  of 
the  king  as  against  the  barons,  and  reoccupied  the  royal  castles 
which,  in  the  troublous  times,  some  of  the  barons  had  seized. 

106.  Personal  Rule  of  Henry  III ;  Foreign  Favorites. —  (2)  In 
1227  Henry  declared  himself  of  age  and  took  the  government 
into  his  own  hands.  The  thirty-one 

years  of  Henry’s  personal  rule  are 
marked  by  misgovernment  at  home ; 
an  unpatriotic,  weak,  and  humiliating 
policy  in  regard  to  papal  demands ; 
and  a  severe  and  irritating  treatment 
of  Aquitaine  and  Gascony.^ 

In  1232  Hubert  was  dismissed  by 
Henry,  who  came  almost  wholly  under 
the  influence  of  one  of  his  father’s 
Poitevin  favorites,  Peter  de  Roches, 

Bishop  of  Winchester.  Two  years  later 
he  also  was  dismissed,  and  Henry 
carried  on  the  government  himself. 

Almost  hopeless  disorder  was  the  result. 

There  was  now  a  great  influx  of  for¬ 
eigners  into  England,  and  every  pos¬ 
sible  office  and  gift  was  bestowed  upon 
foreign  favorites. 

107.  Personal  Rule  Continued.  — 

In  1236  Henry  married  Eleanor  of 


Henry  III 

After  the  effigy  in  Westminster 
Abbey 


1  That  these  provinces  recognized  the  English  rule  was  due  to  the  fact  that  they 
knew  it  was  better  to  be  under  a  distant  monarch  like  Henry,  than  under  a  near 
neighbor  like  the  French  king.  They  had  practically  to  choose  between  these  two  : 
under  the  former  there  was  a  chance  of  gaining  independence;  under  the  latter, 
none  whatever.  They  were  the  only  continental  provinces  remaining  to  England. 


io6 


HISTORY  OF  EXGLAND 


Provence,  a  sister  of  the  French  queen.  This  marriage  brought  a 
fresh  swarm  of  greedy  foreigners  into  the  country.  This  led  to  the 
exaction  of  still  larger  sums  from  the  barons  and  the  people.  In 
1242  Henry  made  an  ill-advised  and  costly  expedition  to  France 
to  recover  Poitou  from  the  French.  He  was  defeated  and  had  to 
make  a  shameful  truce  by  which  he  gave  up  all  claim  to  Poitou. 
He  was  followed  home  by  still  more  foreigners  eager  to  enrich 
themselves  with  English  spoils.^ 

108.  Discontent  of  the  Barons.  1244-1258.  —  The  patience 
of  the  barons  and  of  all  patriotic  men  was  nearly  exhausted. 
Again  and  again  had  the  barons,  in  return  for  concessions  from  the 
king,  granted  him  money,  only  to  find  that  the  royal  word  was 
worthless.  Matthew  Paris,  a  chronicler  of  the  time,  writes,  “  The 
king  breaks  everything ;  the  laws,  his  good  faith,  his  promises.” 
In  1244  the  earls,  barons,  and  bishops  met  in  a  great  council, 
which  about  this  time  began  to  be  called  a  Parliament,^  and 
demanded  control  over  the  appointment  of  ministers  who  should 
carry  on  the  government  and  be  responsible  to  the  council. 
Though  they  were  not  successful,  the  attempt  shows  the  advance 
in  public  opinion.  It  was  during  these  years  of  Henry’s  misgov- 
ernment  that  the  English  slowly  and  painfully  learned  that  the 
king  was  really  dependent  upon  the  nation,  and  when  this  fact  was 
clearly  understood,  there  were  but  few  steps  to  representative 
government.  In  1257  there  was  a  bad  harvest,  and  then  came  a 
hard  winter.  It  was  quite  in  accord  with  his  character  for  the  king 
at  this  time  to  seize  a  quantity  of  grain  which  was  imported  frorii 
Germany,  and  sell  it  at  high  prices.  He  had,  moreover,  at  the 
request  of  Pope  Innocent,  accepted  the  crown  of  Sicily  for  bis 
youngest  son,  Edmund,  and  agreed  to  furnish  the  money  required 
to  win  it  for  him.^  For  four  years  (1254-1258)  Henry  used 

1  One  of  the  results  of  this  invasion  of  foreigners  was  a  fresh  introduction  of 
French  wotds  into  the  English  language. 

2  The  first  recorded  instance  is  in  1246. 

s  This  scheme  ended  in  a  complete  failure. 


GROWTH  OF  PARLIAMENT 


107 


every  means .  possible  to  furnish  the  treasury  of  the  Pope  with 
funds.  He  borrowed  money  from  all  who  would  lend,  he  wrung 
it  from  the  unfortunate  Jews,  he  raised  all  that  he  could  by  taxa¬ 
tion,  and  he  also  demanded  large  sums  from  the  clergy.  This  con¬ 
duct  exhausted  the  patience  of  all  classes. 

109.  Mad'  Parliament;  Provisions  of  Oxford.  —  (3)  In  the 
spring  of  1258  a  Parliament  was  held  in  London.  The  king’s 
object  in  calling  it  was  to  get  more  money,  but  Parliament  insisted 
on  redress  of  grievances.  From  its  character  and  determination, 
it  has  been  termed  the  Mad  Parliament.  The  king  was  forced  to 
consent  to  the  appointment  of  a  committee  of  twenty-four  persons 
to  draw  up  a  scheme  of  reform  for  the  administration  of  affairs. 
This  was  to  be  presented  to  an  adjourned  session  to  be  held  at 
Oxford  in  the  early  summer.  The  Parliament  met  as  appointed 
and  presented  a  scheme  known  as  the  Provisions  of  Oxford,  which 
arranged  for  a  new  government  to  be  carried  on  practically  by  a 
council.*  The  king  could  not  well  do  otherwise  than  give  his  oath 
to  support  the  plan.  Some  good  resulted  from  the  Provisions  of 
Oxford,  but  the  arrangement  was  too  clumsy  to  be  successful,  and 
the  members  of  the  committee  soon  quarreled  among  themselves. 
These  dissensions  gave  the  king  and  his  friends  new  courage,  and 
Henry  obtained  a  dispensation  from  the  Pope  releasing  him  from 
his  oath.  The  condition  of  affairs  became  very  unsatisfactory,  and 
both  parties  agreed  to  leave  the  whole  question  to  the  decision  of 
Louis  IX  of  France.  Louis  heard  the  case  at  Amiens,  in  France, 
and  his  award  is  known  as  the  Mise  of  Amiens^  (1264). 

110.  Mise  of  Amiens  ;  Barons’ Wars  ;  Defeat  of  Henry.  1264. 
—  Louis  IX  had  such  a  reputation  for  honesty  and  purity  of 
life  that  he  is  known  as  St.  Louis,  but  unfortunately  he  knew  little 
about  conditions  in  England  and  could  only  apply  the  remedy 
that  was  obviously  necessary  in  France  at  that  time,  which  was 

1  The  king  was  to  be  assisted  by  a  council  of  fifteen  chosen  by  the  twenty-four 
named  above.  This  council  was  to  appoint  all  the  important  state  officers,  and  to 
meet  three  times  a  year  a  committee  of  twelve  men  chosen  by  the  barons. 

2  Mise  (mez),  an  award  or  arbitration. 


io8 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


the  strengthening  of  the  royal  power.  Nor  could  he  bring  himself 
to  admit  that  kingly  rule,  which  to  his  mind  was  divinely  ordered, 
should  be  limited  or  restrained.  He  therefore  decided  almost 
wholly  in  favor  of  the  king,  and  annulled  the  Provisions  of  Oxford 
together  with  all  arrangements  which  had  followed  them.  He 
decided,  however,  that  all  the  charters  which  had  been  granted 
before  the  Provisions  of  Oxford  should  hold  good.  (App.  i,  §  92.) 

Neither  party  was  satisfied  with  the  decision ;  many  of  the 
barons  deserted  their  leader,  Simon  de  Montfort,^  and  went  over 
to  the  king,  but  Simon  had  still  a  large  following  composed  of 
most  of  the  clergy,  the  universities  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  the 
towns,  and  the  great  mass  of  the  people.  He  therefore  de¬ 
termined  to  resist  the  royal  forces.  War  began  in  the  spring  of 
1264,  and  at  Lewes  the  king  was  defeated  and  taken  prisoner,  as 
was  also  his  eldest  son,  Edward.  The  success  of  the  movement 
was  undoubtedly  due  to  Simon  de  Montfort. 

111.  Simon  de  Montfort.  —  This  remarkable  man  belonged  to  a 
Norman  family,  and  for  many  years  his  interests  were  outsidie  of 
England.  He  inherited  the  Duchy  of  Leicester,  and  by  his  private 
marriage  with  the  king’s  sister  roused  the  indignation  of  the  barons, 
who  were  jealous  of  foreign  intruders.  Within  a  few  months  he 
quarreled  with  Henry  and  was  driven  from  England,  but  he  was 
soon  received  again  at  court.  Prudence  now  led  him  to  live  for 
a  time  in  retirement,  and  he  thus  had  an  opportunity  to  watch  the 
workings  of  English  rule.  The  result  was  to  make  him  foremost 
among  those  interested  in  reform,  so  that  Henry  welcomed  the 
chance  to  send  him  to  a  safe  distance  as  Governor  of  Gascony. 

1  Simon  de  Montfort  was  the  son  of  a  Simon  de  Montfort  who  was  celebrated  for 
leading  in  1209  a  crusade  against  the  Albigenses,  an  heretical  sect  in  southern 
France.  (App.  i,  §77.)  The  family  was  Norman,  but  the  sons  of  Simon  the 
elder  had  a  claim  on  the  Duchy  of  Leicester  through  their  grandmother,  and  his 
brothers  having  resigned  their  rights,  Simon,  the  fourth  son,  claimed  and  received 
the  duchy.  He  did  not  take  up  his  residence  in  England  for  some  years,  but  in 
1236  he  w^s  present  at  the  marriage  of  the  king,  and  two  years  after  married 
Eleanor,  the  king’s  sister ;  the  marriage  was  a  private  one,  but  took  place,  it  is  said, 
with  the  knowledge  of  the  king. 


SIMON  DE  MONTFORT 


109 


For  several  years  he  gave  that  turbulent  province  severe  but  good 
government  —  the  best  it  had  known.  In  1256  Simon  returned 
to  England  and  found  the  king  as  hostile  toward  him  as  ever. 

112.  Simon  de  Montfort,  the  Leader.  —  From  this  time  Simon 
de  Montfort  was  prominent  in  the  councils  and  work  of  the 
baronial  party.  In  comparison  with  those  around  him  his  life 
was  pure  and  temperate,  he  was 
deeply  religious,  had  a  keen 
sense  of  honor,  and  was  cheerful 
in  his  social  intercourse  ;  but,  on 
the  other  hand,  he  was  of  a  quick 
and  high  temper  and  impatient 
of  opposition.  He  was  bold  and 
determined,  a  brave  and  skillful 
soldier,  a  learned  man  and  states¬ 
man.  He  was  unquestionably  a 
great  man  and,  for  his  age,  a 
good  one ;  but  that  all  his  ends 
were  patriotic,  or  that  he  was  not 
at  times  cruel,  cannot  be  af¬ 
firmed.  Without  question,  he 
stands  out  above  all  others  in 
Henry’s  reign  as  a  leader  against 
tyranny  and  as  an  advocate  of  a 
government  in  which  the  people  should  have  a  larger  share  of 
power.  That  the  people  believed  him  to  be  their  friend  is  shown 
by  the  popular  ballads  of  the  time,  in  which  he  is  styled  “  The 
Strong,”  “  The  True,”  “  The  Steadfast,”  “  The  Pillar  of  Righteous¬ 
ness.”  Such  was  the  man  who  was  the  leader  of  the  revolt  against 
the  king. 

113.  Mise  of  Lewes,  1264;  Parliament. — The  day  after  the 
defeat  at  Lewes  the  king  was  compelled  to  sign  what  is  known  as 
the  Mise  of  Lewes.  By  this  he  promised  to  confirm  the  Provisions 
of  Oxford,  and  to  agree  to  a  new  arrangement  by  which  the  king- 


SiMON  DE  Montfort 
After  a  window  in  Chartres  Cathedral 


I  lO 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


dom  should  be  governed.  To  devise  this  scheme  a  Parliament 
was  called  (1264).  The  important  feature  of  the  new  plan  was 
that  there  should  be  three  electors  or  councilors  appointed,  in 
accordance  with  whose  advice  the  king  must  act.  Of  these  three 
Simon  de  Montfort  was  the  chief.  For  about  a  year  these  three 
men  were  the  real  rulers  of  England,  though  they  were  nominally 
responsible  to  Parliament. 

114.  Parliament  of  1265.  1265-1272.  —  (4)  It  became 

needful  to  call  a  new  Parliament.  To  that  of  1264  de  Montfort 
had  summoned,  besides  the  bishops  and  abbots,  earls  and  barons, 
four  knights  from  each  shire  ;  but  now,  in  addition  to  these  clergy 
and  barons  and  knights  of  the  shire,  there  were  two  representatives 
from  each  of  certain  towns.  This  is  known  as  the  Famous  Parlia¬ 
ment  of  1265.  In  it,  for  the  first  time,  all  classes  of  free  Englishmen 
were  represented.  It  was  not,  however,  like  a  modern  Parliament, 
because  only  those  were  summoned  who  were  favorable  to  Mont¬ 
fort  and  his  government ;  and  also  because  the  chief  business  of 
the  Parliament  was  not  to  make  laws,  but  to  force  the  king  to  act 
in  accordance  with  old  customs.  The  chief  importance  of  this 
Parliament  is  that  it  made  a  precedent  for  the  future. 

115.  De  Montfort’s  Failure  and  Death.  1265. — De  Montfort 
was  not  a  wise  organizer  or  ruler.  His  imperious  manner,  and 
probably  the  insolence  of  his  sons,  together  with  the  hostility  of 
the  Pope,  the  natural  dislike  of  the  English  to  have  their  king  in 
captivity,  and  the  jealousy  of  the  barons  all  worked  against  him, 
and  it  was  not  many  months  before  the  country  was  in  a  state  of 
civil  waj.  Prince  Edward  escaped  from  his  guardians  and  joined 
the  army  against  de  Montfort.  The  younger  Simon  was  driven 
within  the  walls  of  Kenilworth  Castle,  while  the  Prince  hurried  to 
meet  the  earl,  who  was  at  Evesham,  not  far  from  Worcester.  At 
first  Simon  thought  it  was  his  son  come  to  help  him,  but  when  he 
saw  that  it  was  Prince  Edward,  he  said  :  “  They  come  on  in  wise 
fashion,  but  it  was  from  me  that  they  learnt  it.  Let  us  commend 
our  souls  to  God,  for  our  bodies  are  our  foe’s.”  The  conflict  was 


REIGN  OF  HENRY  III 


I  I  I 


a  desperate  one.  When  his  horse  was  brought  to  the  ground,  the 
earl  fought  on  foot  until  a  blow  from  behind  killed  him.  After 
the  battle  his  body  was  horribly  mutilated,  but  the  monks  of 
Evesham  buried  it  with  great  honor.  His  tomb  became  an 
object  of  pilgrimage,  for  the  people  of  England  regarded  him  as  a 
saint.’ 

116.  Dictum  of  Kenilworth.  1266. — Though  the  cause  of 
the  barons  seemed  lost  there  were  many  in  the  royal  ranks  who, 
while  they  hated  Simon,  shared  his  desire  for  greater  political 
liberty.  Among  these  was  Prince  Edward  himself.  The  action 
of  the  king  in  immediately  revoking  the  popular  measures  adopted 
during  his  captivity,  and  in  confiscating  the  property  of  the  de  Mont- 
forts  and  their  supporters,  aroused  widespread  national  indigna¬ 
tion.  Moreover,  there  was  still  active  resistance  from  those 
who  had  little  hope  from  yielding  to  the  king.  Prince  Edward 
and  others  now  saw  that  conciliation  was  absolutely  necessary  to 
restore  peace,  and  so  an  agreement  was  drawn  up,  known  as  the 
Dictum  of  Kenilworth  (1266),  which  allowed  those  whose  estates 
had  been  confiscated  to  redeem  them  by  a  payment  of  money, 
while  the  king,  on  his  part,  was  to  restore  the  charters.  It  was 
not  until  1267  that  quiet  was  established.  Then,  at  the  Parlia¬ 
ment  of  Marlborough,  the  king  renewed  the  Provisions  of  West¬ 
minster,'’  by  which  most  of  the  valuable  reforms  were  made  part 
of  the  law  of  the  land,  and  Simon’s  cause,  apparently  lost,  was 
really  victorious. 

117.  Peaceful  End  of  Henry’s  Reign.  1270-1272.  —  By  1270 
England  was  so  peaceful  that  Prince  Edward  felt  that  he  could 
fulfill  a  long-cherished  desire  to  go  on  a  crusade.  Accompanied 
by  his  wife,  Eleanor  of  Castile,  and  by  many  English  knights  and 

1  One  of  the  ballads  of  the  times  says :  — 

But  by  his  death  Earl  Simon  hath 
In  sooth  the  victory  won, 

Like  Canterbury’s  martyr  he 

There  to  the  death  was  done.”  —  F.  York  PowelVs  version. 

2  The  Provisions  of  Westminster,  issued  in  1259,  carried  out  in  some  respects 
more  fully  the  Provisions  of  Oxford. 


I  12 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


nobles,  he  went  as  far  as  Acre,  but  did  not  accomplish  anything 
of  importance.^ 

In  1272  Henry  died,  but  so  quiet  was  the  country  that  Edward 
did  not  hesitate  to  remain  abroad  about  two  years.  Meantime,  he 
was  proclaimed  king  without  any  objection,  and  there  was  not,  as 
hitherto,  a  formal  choice  of  a  king.  It  was  the  first  time  in  Eng¬ 
lish  history  that  the  succession  of  the  eldest  son  had  been  ac¬ 
knowledged  as  a  matter  of  course. 

118.  Coming  of  the  Friars.  —  One  of  the  significant  movements 
of  the  thirteenth  century  was  the  coming  of  the  Friars,  or  Mendicant 
Friars,  (-‘^pp.  i,  §§  69-72.)  To  these  faithful,  earnest  mission¬ 
aries  is  chiefly  due  the  religious  revival  of  that  century.  England 
shared  in  the  results  of  the  movement.  The  Dominicans  made  their 
first  appearance  in  England  in  1220.  The  Franciscans  followed  in 
1224.  “In  five  years  from  their  first  arrival  the  Friars  had  estab¬ 
lished  themselves  in  almost  every  considerable  town  in  England.” 

Conditions  in  England  were  favorable  for  the  coming  of  the 
Friars.  The  latter  part  of  the  reign  of  Henry  II,  and  the  whole 
of  the  reigns  of  Richard  and  John,  were  almost  destructive  of 
religious  life  and  character,  and  the  interdict  in  the  reign  of 
John  had  to  a  great  extent  taken  away  even  the  semblance  of 
religion.  Probably  never  has  the  religious  life  of  England  been  at 
a  lower  ebb.  Into  this  desert  the  Friars  came.  No  wonder  that 
their  work  was  effective,  or  that  their  growth  and  influence  were 
great.  Like  others  before  and  after  them,  they  later  fell  away  from 
their  earliest  principles  and  practices,  but  the  debt  which  Europe, 
and  especially  England,  owed  to  them  is  incalculable. 

Two  of  their  number  were  Roger  Bacon  (12 14-1292),  one  of 
the  most  learned  philosophers  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  Adam 
Marsh,  a  great  Oxford  scholar  and  friend  of  Simon  de  Montfort. 
Robert  Grosseteste,  Bishop  of  Lincoln  (1175-1253),  the  ablest  and 
best  English  churchman  of  the  time,  was  their  warm  supporter.  It 
was  not  ‘long  before  the  English  Franciscans  became  the  most 


1  This  is  generally  known  as  the  eighth  and  last  crusade. 


REIGN  OF  HENRY  III 


II3 

learned  body  in  Europe,  and  not  a  few  were  chosen  to  the  higliest 
positions  in  the  church.' 

References.  —  Green,  Short  History,  chap,  iii,  §§4-7;  chap,  iv,  §1; 
Gardiner,  Student's  History,  chap,  xiii;  Terry,  History,  Part  II,  chap,  viii; 
ToxA,  Advanced  History,'Bodk  III,  chap,  i;  Si.\xhh%,  Early  Plantagenets, 
viii-ix;  A.  Jessop,  The  Coming  of  the  Friars,  etc.;  Traill,  Social  England, 
vol.  I,  chap,  iv;  Adams  and  Stephens,  Select  Documents,  §§30-36;  Chey- 
ney,  chap,  viii,  §  v;  chap,  ix,  §§i-v;  Colby,  Selections,  §§31-32; 

Kendall,  Source-Book,  §§  25-27;  Lee,  Source- Book,  chap,  xi,  §  81. 

Norman  and  Angevin  Kings  from  Edward  I 

Edward  I 
1272-1307 

=  (i)  Eleanor  of  Castile 


1  (2)  Margaret  of  France 

(I) 

(I) 

Edward  II  Three  daughters 

1307-1327  (deposed) 

=  Isabella  of  France 


Edward  III  John  Two  daughters  Edmund 

1.S27-1377  d.  1336  ■  I 

=  Philippa  of  Hainault  Joan  of  Kent 

=  Edward  "  Black 
Prince  " 


Edward  ' 
d.  1376 


Black  Prince  ’’  Lionel 

D.  of  Clarence 


John 
of  Gaunt 


Edmund 
D.  of  York 


Thomas 

D.  of  Gloucester 


=  |oan  of  Kent 

Richard  II 

1377-1399  (deposed) 

=  (i)  Anne  of  Bohemia 
(2)  Isabella  of  France 


U.  of  Lancaster 

I 

Henry  IV 
1399-1413 

Henry  V 
1413-1422 

=  Katharine  of  France 


Richard,  Earl  of  Cambridge 
Richard,  D.  of  York 


I  ^  I 

Henry  VI  Edward  IV  Richard  HI 
1422-1461  1461-1483  1483-1485 


Edward  V 
d.  1483 
murdered 


Richard, 
D.  of  York 
d.  1483 
murdered 


1  There  were  four  great  orders  of  Mendicant  Friars :  (i)  the  Dominicans,  known 
from  their  black  hoods  as  the  Black  Friars;  (2)  the  Franciscans,  known  from  their 
gray  dress  as  the  Gray  Friars;  (3)  the  Carmelites,  known  from  their  white  dress 
as  the  White  Friars;  and  (4)  the  Augustinian  (or  Austin)  Friars. 


CHAPTER  X 


RISE  OF  THE  ENGLISH  NATION  AND  GROWTH  OF 
PARLIAMENT  (Continued) 

119.  Edward  I.  1272.  —  Edward  I,  “the  greatest  of  all  the 
Plantagenets,”  was  one  of  the  ablest  of  English  kings.  He 
had,  for  the  most  part,  a  keen  sense  of  what  was  practicable, 
and  was  willing  to  accept  that  and  wait  until  he  could  do  more. 
He  was  a  brave  warrior,  an  able  general,  a  keen  hunter,  a  states¬ 
man,  a  patron  of  art,  and  above  all  things  a  lawgiver.  He  was 
acquainted  with  Latin  and  French  and  probably  Spanish.  He 
was  an  Englishman  in  sympathy  and  in  education.  When  he  was 
a  young  man,  not  a  few  instances  of  cruelty  were  justly  laid  to  his 
charge,  and  at  various  times  during  his  reign  he  acted  in  a  harsh 
and  vindictive  manner,  but  as  a  rule  he  held  his  fiery  temper  under 
perfect  control.  Far  more  than  most  of  his  predecessors,  he  had 
a  high  sense  of  honor,  which  was  shown  by  his  favorite  motto  : 
Pactum  serva,  “  Keep  troth.” 

Edward’s  experience  during  the  latter  years  of  the  reign  of  his 
father,  Henry  HI,  taught  him  much,  and  his  association  with  the 
great  Earl  Simon  made  him  familiar  with  the  feelings  of  the  barons 
and  also  of  the  people.  From  Earl  Simon  he  also  learned  useful 
lessons  of  statesmanship.  He  recognized  that  new  legislation 
could  not  succeed  unless  it  was  enacted  by  the  advice  and  consent 
of  those  most  interested  in  it.  He  therefore  consulted  the  barons 
when  he  wished  to  modify  or  change  the  laws  relating  to  them, 
and  the  townsmen  when  he  wished  to  change  the  laws  in  which 
they  were  interested. 

120.  Legislation  in  Reign  of  Edward  I.  —  Most  of  the  legisla¬ 
tion  credited  to  Edward  was  a  development  of  that  already  in  use. 

114 


REIGN  OF  EDWARD  I 


II5 

More  important,  even,  than  the  legislation  was  the  care  he  took 
that  the  justice  administered  in  the  courts  should  be  real  justice  and 
not  justice  by  favor;  abuses  were  remedied,  venal  judges  were 
brought  to  trial,  and  those 
found  guilty  were  punished. 

Edward  struck  also  at  abuses 
of  all  kinds,  such  as  unjust 
fines,  excessive  claims  by  the 
feudal  lords,  refusal  to  allow 
bail,  and  extortion  in  any  form. 

121.  New  Statutes.  1275. 

—  Edward’s  prime  objects  were 
to  strengthen  and  increase  the 
royal  power,  and  to  extend  his 
rule  over  the  whole  of  Great 
Britain.  To  accomplish  the 
former,  it  would  be  necessary 
to  restrict  the  power  both  of 
the  church  and  of  the  barons. 

This  was,  of  course,  a  gradual 
work,  and  was  in  a  measure  accomplished  by  the  enactment  of  a 
number  of  statutes,  passed  as  occasion  called  for,  and  when  it  was 
practicable. 

122.  Statute  of  Westminster,  1275;  of  Gloucester,  1278;  the 
Nobles.  —  Some  of  the  most  important  of  the  statutes  are  the 
following:  the  First  Statute  of  Westminster  (1275),  by  which 
certain  abuses  were  remedied;  the  Statute  of  Gloucester  (1278), 
which  restricted  the  privileges  of  the  nobles.  A  commission  was 
sent  through  the  country  inquiring  into  the  titles  by  which  the 
nobles  claimed  to  hold  their  property,  and  the  authority  by  which 
they  exercised  special  powers.  Many  had  very  insufficient 
grounds  for  their  claims  and  were  greatly  alarmed  at  this  order ; 
others  were  rebellious.  One  of  the  barons,  an  Earl  de  Warrenne, 
drew  a  rusty  old  sword  before  the  commissioners  and  said  :  “  This 


After  an  old  painting 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


I  l6 

is  my  title.  My  ancestors  came  over  with  William  the  Con¬ 
queror  and  won  their  lands  with  the  sword,  and  with  the  sword 
will  I  maintain  them.” 

123.  Compulsory  Knighthood.  1278.  —  Edward,  too  wise  to 
press  matters  to  extremes,  did  not  disturb  any  claims  which 
dated  back  to  Richard  I ;  but  he  did  enough  to  make  his  power 
felt  and  to  pave  the  way  for  further  restrictions.  Another  law 
required  every  man  who  owned  property  amounting  to  twenty 
pounds  a  year  to  assume  knighthood  or  to  pay  a  fine.  This  had 
two  results :  first,  the  expensive  ceremonies  attending  the  be¬ 
stowal  of  knighthood  and  the  fines  of  those  who  declined  the 
honor,  brought  in  large  sums  of  money ;  and  secondly,  those 
who  were  thus  knighted  owed  no  feudal  service  to  an  overlord, 
but  only  to  the  king  himself.  They  were,  therefore,  in  the  event 
of  war,  likely  to  support  him  rather  than  the  barons. 

124.  Statutes:  Mortmain,  1279;  Winchester,  1285.  —  An¬ 
other  statute  was  that  known  as  De  Keligiosis}  or  Mortmain^ 
by  which  it  was  forbidden  to  give  lands  to  the  church,  because 
such  land  escaped  feudal  and  other  dues. 

By  another  statute,  that  of  Winchester  (1285),  every  man  was 
compelled  to  do  his  share  in  maintaining  law  and  order.  Each 
district  was  made  responsible  for  the  crimes  committed  within  it, 
and  every  citizen  was  required  to  aid  in  bringing  criminals  to 
justice.  It  was  further  commanded  that  highways  leading  from  one 
market  town  to  another  should  be  enlarged  so  that  there  should 
be  “  neither  dike,  tree,  nor  bush,  whereby  a  man  may  lurk  to 
do  hurt,  w’ithin  two  hundred  foot  of  the  one  side  and  two  hun¬ 
dred  foot  on  the  other  side  of  the  way.” 

125.  Statute  of  Westminster  II,  1285;  Entail;  Quia  Emp- 

1  The  statutes  were  written  in  Latin  and  often  took  their  name  from  the  first 
words  of  the  title  of  the  act. 

2  Mortmain,  from  the  Latin  words  in  manum  mortuum  (into  a  dead  hand)  ;  so 
called,  some  think,  because  the  land  was  given  into  the  hand  of  the  dead  patron 
saint  of  the  abbey  or  monastery.  As  the  church  was  a  continuous  corporation, 
such  land  was  lost  for  revenue  purposes. 


GROWTH  OF  PARLIAMENT 


II7 

tores,  1290.  —  The  second  Statute  of  Westminster  (1285), 
among  other  provisions,  began  the  system  of  entailed  ‘  lands 
which  still  prevails  in  England.  It  was  enacted  that  an  estate 
might  be  so  granted  to  a  man  and  his  heirs  that  the  man  who 
held  it  would  only  be  a  life  tenant  and  could  not  part  with  it 
because  it  belonged  to  his  heirs.  This  law  was  favorable  to  the 
barons,  for  it  prevented  lands  from  being  seized  for  debt,  or  from 
being  alienated  by  the  misconduct  of  the  owner,  and  so  estates 
could  remain  in  the  same  family  for  generation  after  generation.^ 


Parliament  House  Westminster  Hall  Westminster  Abbey 


Where  Parliament  met  in  the  Fourteenth  Century 

Another  statute  was  that  known  as  Quia  Eniptores  (1290). 
This  was  to  prevent  the  tenant  of  a  feudal  lord  from  granting  land 
to  a  sub-tenant  and  himself  taking  the  jilace  of  the  feudal  lord. 

126.  The  Jews.  —  An  incident  of  Edward’s  reign  not  so  pleas¬ 
ant  to  record  is  his  treatment  of  the  Jews.  When  these  first  came 
to  England  is  not  known,  but  it  was  probably  about  the  time  of 
the  Norman  Conquest.  They  were  then  under  the  special  protec¬ 
tion  of  the  king.  They  were  required  to  live  by  themselves  in 
quarters  of  the  cities  and  towns  called  Jewries.  Of  course  they 

1  Entailed  land  is  land  which  cannot  be  sold,  but  descends,  usually,  from  father 
to  eldest  son,  or  if  there  is  no  son  to  the  nearest  living  male  relative. 

It  is  possible,  in  some  cases,  to  break  an  entail  if  the  next  heir  is  of  age  and 
is  willing  to  give  up  bis  right  of  inheritance.  But  his  father,  or  the  owner  for  the 
time  being,  must  join  with  him  in  the  action. 


ii8 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


paid  the  king  liberally  for  their  privilege ;  otherwise,  with  the  feel¬ 
ing  against  them  which  was  universal  at  that  time,  they  would  have 
been  driven  from  the  country,  if,  indeed,  they  were  so  fortunate  as 
to  escape  with  their  lives. 

Then,  as  now,  the  Jews  were  among  the  great  capitalists  of  the 
world.  They  were  almost  the  only  ones  in  the  Middle  Ages  who  were 
willing  to  lend  money  at  interest  (or  usury,  as  it  was  then  called), 
because,  owing  to  a  mistaken  reading  of  certain  passages  of  scripture, 
the  practice  was  for  a  long  time  discountenanced  by  the  Christian 
church.  The  kings  found  the  Jews  very  useful  in  furnishing  money, 
and  it  was  for  this  reason  that  they  were  protected.  As  the  power 
of  the  kings  decreased,  the  position  of  the  Jews  became  less  secure. 
During  the  reigns  of  Henry  I  and  Stephen  their  condition  became 
steadily  worse.  Richard  wrung  large  sums  from  them  for  his  crusade. 

127.  Popular  Hatred  against  the  Jews.  —  Popular  feeling  be¬ 
came  intensified  and  the  Jewries  were  often  exposed  to  pillage.  John 
and  Henry  HI,  as  might  be  expected,  exacted  large  sums  from  the 
rich  Jews  and  taxed  them  heavily.  Edward  seems  to  have  shared 
the  prejudices  of  his  people,  for  in  1278  he  seized  many  on  the  charge 
of  clipping  the  coins,  and  in  London  alone  two  hundred  and  sixty- 
seven  w’ere  executed.  For  financial  reasons  Edward  might  have 
permitted  them  to  remain  in  England  ;  but  so  strong  was  the  feeling 
against  them  that  in  1290  they  were  formally  expelled,^  and  for 

1  About  sixteen  thousand  Jews  are  supposed  to  have  been  affected  by  this  order. 
It  would  seem,  however,  that  this  expulsion  was  not  complete,  for  notices  of  the 
presence  of  Jews  in  England  are  found  from  time  to  time.  It  was  Oliver  Cromwell 
who  first,  in  1655,  publicly  sanctioned  their  return. 

The  hatred  toward  them  in  the  Middle  Ages  was  due  to  several  causes  ;  first,  of 
course,  because  it  was  the  Jews  who  had  caused  Pilate  to  put  Christ  to  death;  sec¬ 
ondly,  because  of  their  lending  money  at  high  rates  of  interest.  In  this  latter  course 
the  Jews  were  justified,  as  lenders  were  few  and  the  risk  of  losing  both  principal 
and  interest  was  serious.  But  the  rate  was  often  exorbitantly  high,  sometimes  reach¬ 
ing  sixty  per  cent.  It  is  easy  to  see  how  envy,  jealousy,  and  extortion  might  follow. 
No  crime  was  considered  too  heinous  for  a  Jew  to  commit,  and  as  the  law  gave 
him  no  protection,  he  was  absolutely  dependent  on  the  king  for  his  defense.  De¬ 
spised  by ‘all,  goaded  by  injustice,  stung  by  ribald  taunts,  conscious  of  the  ever 
present  possibility  of  torture  and  perhaps  a  cruel  death,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at 
that  some  individuals  of  the  race  were  guilty  of  evil  practices. 


EDWARD  AND  WALES 


II9 

about  three  hundred  and  fifty  years  they  were  not  permitted  to  live 
openly  in  England.  The  exiles  were  allowed  to  take  only  their  per¬ 
sonal  property ;  all  their  real  estate  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  king. 

128.  Edward  and  Wales;  Statute  of  Wales,  1283;  “Prince 
of  Wales,”  1301.  —  Edward  recognized  that  his  most  important 
interests  were  in  England,  although  he  did  not  undervalue  his  con¬ 
tinental  possessions.  There  was  much  in  Great  Britain  to  claim 
his  attention.  Wales  had  submitted  to  William  the  Conqueror, 


Carnarvon  Castle 

Founded  by  Edward  I  in  1283.  After  a  photograph. 


but  the  submission  was  formal  rather  than  actual.  To  protect 
English  lands,  English  kings  had  given  to  some  of  the  barons  on 
the  border  almost  sovereign  powers.  These  barons  of  the  marches, 
or  border  lands,  frequently  rebelled  and  joined  interests  with  the 
Welsh  chieftains.  One  of  these  latter,  Llewelyn,  had  aided  Earl 
Simon  against  Henry  III,  and  only  after  de  Montfort  was  defeated 
did  he  give  his  allegiance  to  Henry.  When  Edward  came  to  the 
throne,  Llewelyn  refused  to  do  homage  to  him,  but  Edward 
invaded  Wales  with  a  strong  force  and  compelled  him  to  give  up 
part  of  his  territory  and  into  this  ceded  land  introduced  English 
laws  and  English  magistrates.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  these  men 
were  without  skill  or  tact,  for  in  1282  a  rebellion  began  under  the 
lead  of  Llewelyn  and  his  brother,  David.  Edward  with  a  large 
force  put  it  down.  Llewelyn  was  killed  in  battle,  and  David,  who 
was  captured  within  a  year,  suffered  a  traitor’s  death. 


120 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


Edward  determined  to  rule  Wales  as  a  conquered  country. 
By  the  Statute  of  Wales  (1283),  the  country  was  placed  under  the 
direct  rule  of  the  crown,  the  land  was  divided  into  shires  like 
England,  and  so  far  as  was  practicable,  and  with  as  little  cause  for 
irritation  as  possible,  English  laws  and  customs  were  introduced. 
To  strengthen  his  position,  Edward  built  a  line  of  castles  for  de¬ 
fense  ;  among  them,  Conway,  Carnarvon,  and  Beaumaris.  Later, 
to  propitiate  the  Welsh,  he  gave  (1301)  the  title  Prince  of  Wales  to 
his  son  Edward,  who  had  been  born  in  Carnarvon  Castle  (1284).^ 

129.  Continental  Policy ;  Scottish  Affairs.  —  Edward  more 
than  once  crossed  the  channel  to  maintain  his  own  rights  and 
those  of  his  wife,  Eleanor  of  Castile.  His  policy  on  the  Continent 
was  peace,  which  he  was  very  successful  in  securing. 

The  relations  of  the  Scots  and  the  English  were  close ;  many 
nobles  owned  land  on  both  sides  of  the  border,  and  a  large  num¬ 
ber  of  Norman  barons  had  settled  in  the  country  near  the  Forth. 
The  Scottish  kings,  moreover,  had  intermarried  with  the  English 
royal  families  and  had  held  lands  in  the  north  of  England  as 
vassals  of  the  English  king.  When  Henry  H  compelled  William 
the  Lion,  of  Scotland,  who  was  his  prisoner,  to  do  homage  for  all 
Scotland  (§  73),  the  overlordship  of  England  seemed  assdred. 
Richard  I,  however,  in  return  for  money  had  released  Scotland 
from  William’s  oath. 

130.  Scottish  Succession.  1286-1292.  —  Alexander  HI  of 
Scotland  died  in  1286,  leaving  as  his  nearest  heir  a  little  girl  three 
years  old,  the  child  of  his  daughter,  wife  of  Eric,  king  of  Norway. 
As  the  Scots  recognized  the  claim  of  this  little  Margaret,  known 
as  “  The  Maid  of  Norway,”  Edward  saw  a  way  to  unite  peacefully 
the  two  kingdoms  by  arranging  a  marriage  between  the  “  Maid  ” 
and  his  son.  Unfortunately  the  little  princess  died  on  her  way  to 
Scotland  (1290),  and  not  only  was  Edward’s  plan  broken  up,  but 

1  The  title  is  not  inherited  by  the  English  monarch’s  eldest  son,  but  is  conferred 
upon  him,  and  carries  with  it  no  authority  whatever.  Wales  did  not  become  really 
incorporated  with  England  until  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII. 


EDWARD  AND  SCOTLAND 


I2I 


the  right  of  succession  to  the  Scottish  crown  became  a  matter  of 
serious  doubt.  Of  the  thirteen  claimants  for  the  throne,  only  three 
had  definite  ground  for  their  claims.  These  were  descendants  of 
David,  a  younger  brother  of  William  the  Lion.  They  were  John 
Balliol,  Robert  Bruce,  and  John  Hastings.^ 


Table  of  Scottish  Kings  to  Robert  I,  showing  the  Claimants  in  1290 

Duncan  I 
1034-1040 


M ACCOM  III 
1057-1093 
=  (i)  Ingeborg 

(2)  Margaret,  sister  of  Edgar  Atheling 

(I)  (2) 


Donald  Bane 
1094-1097 

I 

Daughter 

=  Sir  Robert  Comyn 


Duncan  Edgar  Alex-  Matilda  Mary  David  I  William 

II  1098-1107  ANDER  I  =Henry  I  1124-1153  | 

d.  1095  1107-1124  ofEngland  =  Maud  Richard 


Henry 
d.  1152 
=  Ada 

't - ^ - r 

Malcom  IV  William  the  Lion  Ada 
•  1153-1165  1165-1214 

=  Ermengard 


I  I 

John,  the  "  Black  William 

Comyn "  | 

=  Margaret,  sister  Earls  of 

of  John  Balliol  Buchan 


David 
Earl 

Huntingdon 
=  Maud 

Margaret  =  Alan 


John,  the  “  Red  Comyn  ” 
Killed  by  Robert  Bruce,  1306 


I  ^ - 1 

Devorguilla  Isabella  Ada 

—John  Balliol  —Robert  Bruce  =  Henry  Hast- 
1292-1296  I  ings 

Robert  | 

I  John  Hastings 

Robert  I,  Bruce 
1306-1329 


I 

Alexander  1 1 
=  (1)  Joanna,  dau.  John 
of  England 
(2)  Mary 

I 

(2) 

Alexander  III 
1249-1286 

=  (1)  Margaret,  dau.  Henry  HI 
of  England 
(2)  lolande 

I 

(i) 

Margaret 
=  Eric  of  Norway 

Margaret,  “  Maid  of  Norway” 
d.  1290 

1  Balliol  was  the  grandson  of  the  eldest  daughter,  Bruce  was  the  son  of  the  second 
daughter,  and  Hastings  was  a  grandson  of  the  third  daughter. 

2  The  three  chief  claimants  of  the  throne  in  1290  are  in  italics. 


122 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


The  claimants  agreed  to  refer  the  matter  to  Edward  for  settle¬ 
ment.  After  his  overlordship  was  acknowledged  by  the  Scottish 
nobles,  he  made  his  decision  with  wisdom  and  fairness,  awarding 
the  kingdom  to  John  Balliol,  who  was  forthwith  crowned  at  Scone 
(1292).  This  award  was  accepted  by  the  nobles,  Balliol  paid  hom¬ 
age  to  Edward  as  his  feudal  lord,  and  for  a  time  there  was  peace. 

131.  Death  of  Queen  Eleanor.  1290.  —  Edward  reached  the 
summit  of  his  power  after  the  submission  of  Balliol.  He  had 

conquered  Wales,  quieted  and  strength¬ 
ened  his  continental  possessions,  and 
established  a  government  strong  at  home, 
respected  and  influential  abroad.  It 
might  reasonably  have  been  expected 
that  his  last  years  would  be  spent  in 
peace,  but  they  were  years  of  toil  and 
trouble.  While  he  was  on  the  way  to 
Scotland  in  1290,  his  faithful  wife,  to 
whom  he  was  devotedly  attached,  died  in 
the  north  of  England.  The  body  was 
taken  from  Lincoln  to  Westminster,  and 
at  each  place  where  it  had  rested,  Ed¬ 
ward  ordered  a  rich  cross  to  be  erected.^ 
About  the  same  time  he  lost  by  death 
several  of  his  most  trusted  and  faithful 
counselors  and  ministers. 

132.  England  and  France.  1293.  —  Philip  IV  of  France,  known 
as  Philip  the  Fair,  was  always  watching  for  an  opportunity  to  in¬ 
crease  his  power.  As  he  was  the  feudal  overlord  of  Edward’s 
continental  possessions,  it  was  not  difficult  to  find  a  pretext  for 
making  trouble.  One  soon  offered  itself  in  a  quarrel  which  took 
place  between  Gascon  and  Norman  sailors,  ending  in  a  sea  fight. 

1  There  were  originally  seven  crosses.  The  last  resting  place  was  Charing,  now 
known  from  Eleanor’s  cross  as  Charing  Cross.  This  is  the  center  of  modem 
London. 


GROWTH  OF  PARLIAMENT 


123 


Philip  demanded  satisfaction  for  the  injury  done  to  his  seamen, 
and  ordered  Edward  to  appear  before  him  as  a  vassal.  This 
Edward  declined  to  do,  whereupon  Philip  promptly  invaded 
Gascony.  Unfortunately  for  the  English  king,  Scotland  and  Wales 
now  grew  rebellious.  French  envoys  had  brought  promises  of  aid 
and  friendship  to  the  Scottish  court  and  had  fanned  its  smoldering 
discontent  into  a  flame.  (App.  i,  §  93.) 

133.  The  Famous  Parliament  of  1295.  —  Edward  resolved  to 
appeal  to  the  people  of  England  for  support.  The  idea  of  an 
organized  nation  composed  of  several  well-defined  classes,  each 
with  definite  rights,  and  each  having  the  opportunity  to  express 
its  will,  was  something  new.  Heretofore,  notwithstanding  Simon 
de  Montfort’s  great  Parliament  of  1265,  it  was  not  thought  neces¬ 
sary  to  summon  knights  or  burgesses  to  attend  Parliament,  but 
Edward  believed  that  the  more  national  he  could  make  his  work, 
the  stronger  it  would  be.  “  It  is,”  he  said,  “  a  most  just  law  that 
what  concerns  all  should  be  approved  by  all,  and  that  common 
dangers  should  be  met  by  measures  provided  in  common.”  To 
the  Parliament  of  1295  he  summoned,  therefore,  not  only  the 
barons,  but  also  the  clergy  in  greater  numbers  than  before,  be¬ 
sides  two  knights  of  each  shire  and  two  citizens  from  every  city 
or  borough  ;  about  four  hundred  in  all.  Thus,  the  three  estates 
of  the  realm, ^  the  clergy,  the  barons,  and  the  commons,  or  the 
people,  were  all  present  by  representatives  ^  or  in  person. 

This  council,  sometimes  called  the  Model  Parliament,  was  un¬ 
like  a  modern  Parliament,  in  that  it  did  not  make  laws,  but  only 
voted  supplies  of  money.  Its  importance  lies  in  the  fact  that  all 
classes,  except  the  laborers  and  the  peasants,  were  brought  to¬ 
gether  for  a  common  purpose  that  they  might  act  for  the  nation. 

1  "  Estates  of  the  realm,"  the  three  great  divisions  of  the  population  of  the 
kingdom. 

2  There  were  present,  in  fact,  two  archbishops,  eighteen  bishops  with  some  of 
their  lesser  clergy,  sixty-si.x  abbots,  three  heads  of  religious  orders,  nine  earls,  forty- 
one  barons,  sixty-three  knights  of  the  shire,  and  one  hundred  and  seventy-two 
citizens  and  burgesses. 


124 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


From  this  time  each  of  the  three  estates  was  recognized  in  sum¬ 
moning  a  Parliament. 

The  supplies  granted  enabled  Edward  to  send  an  army  to  Gas¬ 
cony,  and,  later,  one  to  Scotland. 

134.  Edward  and  the  Church.  1296.  —  Edward  did  not  will¬ 
ingly  come  into  conflict  with  the  church,  but  when  disagreements 
occurred,  he  did  not  abate  one  jot  of  his  authority.  The  grants 
made  in  1295  were  not  sufficient,  and  at  a  Parliament  in  1296 
Edward  asked  for  a  contribution  from  the  clergy.  The  arch¬ 
bishop  refused  on  the  ground  that  a  recent  bull  ^  of  the  Pope  for¬ 
bade  them  to  pay  taxes  to  any  lay  authority. 

The  question  was  essentially  the  same  as  that  between  Henry 
II  and  Becket  (§  65).  Edward,  however,  was  shrewder  than 
Henry,  and  met  the  difficulty  in  a  characteristic  way.  He  with¬ 
drew  from  the  clergy  the  support  of  the  law,  so  that  they  could 
be  treated  as  aliens  ;  that  is,  they  would  have  no  rights  in  the 
courts.  They  were  thus  practically  outlawed,  and  anybody  could 
plunder  them,  illtreat  them,  and  even  kill  them,  without  fear  of 
punishment.  Moreover,  the  king  declared  that  if  they  did  not 
yield  before  a  certain  time,  he  would  confiscate  their  lands.  That 
he  would  be  as  good  as  his  word,  every  one  knew.  So  the 
clergy  yielded,  and  in  various  ways,  under  the  name  of  gifts,  or 
througli  third  parties,  furnished  the  king  with  the  rnoney  required.* 

135.  General  Discontent ;  Confinnatio  Cartarum.  1297. —  Dis¬ 
content,  however,  was  spreading  among  all  classes.  Edward,  in 
his  need  for  money,  had  taxed  the  merchants  heavily,  laying 
duties  on  their  goods,  and  even  seizing  their  stores  of  wool  and 
leather.  The  nobles  felt  that  he  had  diminished  their  authority, 
and  the  clergy  were  indignant  because  they  had  been  denied  their 
legal  rights.  The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  Winchelsey,  now 
came  forward  as  a  spokesman,  asking  Edward  not  only  to  confirm 

1  This  pull  was  that  known  as  ClerUis  laicos,  and  was  issued  by  Boniface  VIII 
in  1296.  (App.  I,  §94.) 

2  The  archbishop  himself  refused  to  yield,  but  advised  the  clergy  to  act  accord¬ 
ing  to  their  individual  judgment. 


REIGN  OF  EDWARD  I 


125 


the  Great  Charter  and  other  charters,  but  to  add  new  provisions, 
so  as  to  prevent  monarchs  from  demanding  taxes  not  approved 
by  Parliament.  This  angered  Edward,  for  he  felt  that  what  he 
had  done  was  for  the  good  of  the  whole  country,  and  he  thought 
that  he  should  have  been  supported.  He  could  not  make  up  his 
mind  to  yield  personally,  though  he  saw  that  he  must  yield.  So  he 
started  on  an  expedition  to  Flanders,  leaving  his  son  and  coun¬ 
cilors  to  consider  the  matter. 

These  found  it  needful  to  sum¬ 
mon  a  Parliament  in  order  to 
collect  taxes,  but  the  Parliament 
refused  to  consider  anything  un¬ 
til  the  grievances  were  settled. 

Accordingly,  a  document  con¬ 
firming  the  old  charters  was 
drawn  up,  and  important  clauses 
were  added  which  made  it  clear 
that  henceforth  taxes  and  revenue 
were  to  be  under  the  control  of 
Parliament.  It  made  the  mon¬ 
archs  of  England  almost  depend¬ 
ent  upon  Parliament,  for  with¬ 
out  money  it  would  be  impossible 
to  carry  on  the  government  or 
pay  troops  in  time  of  war.  This 
document  was  signed  by  Edward  at  Ghent,  November  5,  1297.^ 

136.  Scottish  Affairs;  Fall  of  Balliol  and  Conquest  of  Scotland. 
1 296.  —  Meanwhile  Edward  claimed  that  in  Scotland  appeals  could 
be  made  from  Balliol  to  him.  The  Scots  felt  that  to  allow  this 
would  be  an  infringement  of  national  rights,  and  their  resistance 
took  shape  in  an  alliance  between  France  and  Scotland  which  lasted 

1  This  document  is  called  the  Confirmatio  Cartarum  (confirmation  of  the 
charters).  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  referred  rather  to  general  revenues  than  to  royal 
privileges  and  prerogatives,  many  of  which  were  retained  for  nearly  four  hundred 
years  (1688). 


Coronation  Chair,  Westminster 
Abbey 

Containing  the  stone  from  Scone 


126 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


three  hundred  years.  Balliol,  summoned  to  appear  in  London 
before  the  English  king,  sent  instead  a  message  of  defiance. 
“Has  the  fool  done  this  folly?”  cried  King  Edward,  when  the 
message  reached  him.  “  If  he  will  not  come  to  us,  we  will  come 
to  him.”  The  king’s  march  northward  was  a  triumphant  one,  for 
the  English  troops  were  everywhere  successful.  Balliol  surren¬ 
dered  and  was  sent  to  London,  where  he  was  confined  in  the  Tower. 
Later,  he  was  allowed  to  retire  to  the  Continent.  The  Scottish 
nobles  and  gentry  now  swore  homage  to  Edward.  He  took  from 
Scone  the  famous  coronation  stone  of  the  Scottish  kings  and 
brought  it  to  London,  where  it  is  still  kept  in  Westminster  Abbey 
under  the  seat  of  the  coronation  chair.^ 

137.  Scottish  Rebellion  under  Wallace.  1297-1304.  —  Ed¬ 
ward  misjudged  the  Scottish  people.  His  strict  rule  was  disliked, 
the  introduction  of  English  priests  was  unpopular,  grants  of  land 
to  English  barons  became  hateful,  and  the  knowledge  of  being 
ruled  by  a  conqueror  intolerable.  This  was  especially  the  case 
among  the  Lowlanders,  who  were  really  of  English  blood,  for  it 
must  be  remembered  that  Scotland  was  peopled  by  two  races  :  the 
Gaelic,  who  inhabited  the  Highlands,  and  the  Lowlanders,  many  of 
whose  ancestors  had  come  from  England.  There  were  also  those 
of  Norman  blood  among  them.  The  resistance  was  headed  by  Sir 
William  Wallace,  a  somewhat  mythical  character  as  we  know  him, 
who  had  gained  the  confidence  of  the  people  and  of  the  lesser 
nobles  by  his  bold  and  successful  raids  on  the  English.  By  1297 
;he  revolt  had  become  almost  general.  The  Scots  were  successful 
at  Stirling,  and  for  a  time  Wallace  was  master  of  the  country. 

Edward  lost  no  time  in  marching  against  the  rebellious  Scots. 
Through  treachery  he  came  upon  Wallace  unexpectedly,  forced 
him  to  join  battle  at  Falkirk  (July,  1298),  and  defeated  him. 
Wallace,  however,  had  succeeded  in  rousing  a  national  spirit 

1  Legepds  asserted  that  this  stone  was  the  one  which  Jacob  used  for  a  pillow  on 
his  flight  from  Palestine.  According  to  an  old  tradition,  wherever  that  stone  might 
be,  Scottish  kings  should  rule.  Long  afterwards,  this  prophecy  was  said  to  be  ful¬ 
filled  when  James  VI  of  Scotland  became  James  I  of  England. 


EDWARD  I  AND  SCOTLAND 


127 


which  was  never  wholly  subdued.  The  Scots  were  not  yet  con¬ 
quered,  and  it  took  Edward  six  years  more  to  recover  his  lost 
ground.  The  surrender  of  Stirling,  in  1304,  completed  the  con¬ 
quest  of  the  country. 

138.  Edward’s  Scottish  Policy;  Robert  Bruce;  Death  of 
Edward.  1307.  —  Wallace,  who  refused  to  avail  himself  of 
Edward’s  mercy,  was  betrayed  by  one  of  his  countrymen,  taken 
to  London,  condemned  as  a  traitor,  and  executed.  His  head. 


128 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


crowned  in  mockery  with  a  wreath  of  laurel,  was  set  upon  a  pole 
on  London  Bridge. 

Edward  planned  an  excellent  scheme  of  government  for  Scot¬ 
land,  but  found  that  it  is  one  thing  to  make  a  government  for  a 
people  and  quite  another  thing  to  make  them  like  it  or  obey  it. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  he  acted  with  moderation,  and,  except  in 
the  case  of  Wallace,  with  clemency ;  but  the  Scots  wished  for 
independence,  not  merely  for  justice  and  law.  The  representa¬ 
tive  of  national  feeling  at  this  time  was  Robert  Bruce,  grandson 
of  one  of  the  claimants  of  the  crown  after  the  death  of  “The 
Maid  of  Norway”  (§  130).  Bruce  had  yielded  to  Edward  and 
had  taken  part  in  his  scheme  for  the  government  of  Scotland. 
In  some  way,  however,  he  roused  the  king’s  jealousy  and  was 
obliged  to  take  refuge  across  the  border.  Early  in  1306  he 
quarreled  with  Balliol’s  nephew,  “  Red  Comyn,”  wliom  he  sus¬ 
pected  of  treachery,  and,  in  the  heat  of  his  anger,  killed  him. 
Knowing  that  King  Edward  would  never  forgive  such  a  deed, 
Bruce,  almost  in  self-defense,  got  himself  crowned  king  of  Scot¬ 
land  at  Scone. 

Edward,  moved  to  deep  anger  by  the  murder  of  Comyn,  vowed 
vengeance  on  all  concerned  in  the  deed.  Bruce,  meanwhile,  had 
been  attacked  by  a  small  force,  his  disorderly  bands  were  scat¬ 
tered,  and  he  himself  became  a  fugitive  among  the  western  islands. 
Edward  carried  out  his  vow.  “Noble  after  noble  was  hurried  to 
death.  The  Earl  of  Athole  pleaded  kindred  with  royalty.  ‘  His 
only  privilege,’  burst  forth  the  king,  ‘  shall  be  that  of  being 
hanged  on  a  higher  gallows  than  the  rest.’  ”  The  old  king  was 
on  a  sick  bed,  but,  full  of  vengeance,  he  rose  to  lead  his  army 
toward  Scotland.  His  strength  failed,  and  on  the  very  borders 
of  the  country  he  was  s*triving  to  reach  he  died,  July  7,  1307. 

139.  Edward  II,  1307;  Gaveston.  —  Edward  II  was  the  un¬ 
worthy  son  of  a  worthy  father.  He  seems  to  have  regarded  little 
but  his  own  pleasure,  and  to  have  thought  that  “  to  have  a  good 
time  ”  was  the  end  and  aim  of  life.  He  was  not  so  much  wicked 


REIGN  OF  EDWARD  II 


129 


as  weak  and  self-indulgent,  and  the  misfortunes  which  befell  him 
were  of  his  own  making.  A  man  of  his  character  generally  leans 
upon  some  one  stronger  than  himself,  and  has  favorites.  Edward 
II  was  no  exception.  The  first  of  his  favorites  was  Piers  Gaveston, 
a  Gascon  noble,  the  companion  of  his  youth,  banished  by  Edward 
I,  but  recalled  by  Edward  II  on  his  accession  to  the  throne. 
Gaveston,  an  unprincipled,  scheming  man,  had  a  low  opinion  of 
the  English  and  determined  to  get  all  he  could  out  of  England. 

After  some  feeble  attempts  to  carry  on  the  war  in  Scotland, 
Edward  went  to  France  to  marry  Isabella,  daughter  of  the  French 
king,  Philip  the  Fair,  leaving  Gaveston  as  regent.  The  gay  courtier 
showed  little  prudence  or  tact,  but  the  king  on  his  return  heaped 
honors  and  estates  upon  him. 

140.  Opposition  and  Protest  of  the  Barons,  1308;  Death  of 
Gaveston,  1312.  —  The  English  nobles  deeply  resented  the  fiivor 
bestowed  on  Gaveston,  whose  reckless  and  insolent  jests  at  their 
expense  had  added  insult  to  injury.  The  leader  of  the  barons, 
Thomas,  Earl  of  Lancaster,  was  a  cousin  of  the  king  and  the 
wealthiest  lord  in  the  realm.  He  was  an  unscrupulous  man,  de¬ 
void  of  patriotism  and  political  ability,  but  his  wealth  and  rank 
gained  him  his  position  at  the  head  of  the  dissatisfied  nobles. 
Under  the  lead  of  Lancaster,  the  barons  presented  their  protest 
to  Parliament.  They  complained  of  the  unjust  taxes  and  of 
Edward’s  extravagance  and  favoritism.  Parliament  appointed 
twenty-one  “  Lords  Ordainers  ”  to  act  for  the  king,  and  Edward 
was  forced  to  accept  the  new  arrangement.  It  closely  resembled 
the  Provisions  of  Oxford  (§  top)  (1258).  All  power  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  barons  and  the  king  was  forbidden  to  lay  taxes,  to 
go  to  war,  or  even  to  leave  the  country  without  their  consent. 
Parliament  was  to  meet  at  least  once  a  year  to  consider  any  such 
requests  from  the  king.  The  decrees  which  the  “  Lords  Ordainers  ” 
issued  were  called  “  Ordinances.”  By  these  Gaveston  was  per¬ 
manently  banished,  and  some  special  abuses  were  abolished. 

The  barons,  however,  were  shortsighted.  In  the  assembly 


130 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


which  made  these  decrees  there  were  no  representatives  of  the 
commons.  This  fact  led  to  the  ultimate  overthrow  of  baronial 
power.  By  this  time  it  was  too  late  to  ignore  the  Third  estate. 
(§  133,  note.) 

141.  Robert  Bruce;  Bannockburn,  1314;  Loss  of  Scotland, 
1323.  —  Edward’s  weakness  and  the  internal  troubles  of  England 
gave  Robert  Bruce  (§§  130,  138)  the  opportunity  he  needed 
to  establish  the  independence  of  Scotland.  The  strongholds, 
which  Edward  I  had  retained,  were  taken  one  after  another,  until 
Stirling  alone  remained.  After  being  besieged  for  some  time,  the 
English  officer  who  held  it  agreed  to  surrender  if  he  was  not  re¬ 
lieved  by  a  certain  day  (June  24,  1314).  Edward,  whose  submis¬ 
sion  to  the  ordinances  had  gained  for  him  a  grant  from  Parliament, 
was  stirred  to  action  by  this  news  and  marched  to  the  relief  of  the 
besieged  castle.  Bruce  had  drawn  up  his  troops  behind  the  little 
stream  known  as  Bannockburn,  and  had  skillfully  prepared  the 
surrounding  fields  by  digging  pits,  planting  stakes  in  them,  and 
then  covering  the  pits  with  turf.  Into  these  pits  the  English 
horsemen  plunged  and  their  advance  was  checked.  The  English 
army  was  thrown  into  confusion,  most  of  the  men  turned  and  fled, 
Edward  himself  setting  the  example.  Stirling  surrendered  and  the 
English  power  in  Scotland  for  a  time  was  at  an  end. 

Edward  refused  to  give  up  his  claims  upon  Scotland,  and  it  was 
not  until  1323,  after  Bruce  had  made  frequent  raids,  burning 
Scarborough,  Skipton,  and  other  places,  and  penetrating  as  far  as 
York,  that  the  English  monarch  agreed  to  a  truce  for  thirteen 
years,  Bruce  meantime  assuming  the  title  of  king. 

142.  Lancaster  and  the  Despensers.  1314-1322.  —  After  Ban¬ 
nockburn,  Edward  was  forced  to  accept  as  his  adviser  Lancaster, 
who  unfortunately  was  a  selfish,  incompetent  man  so  far  as  ruling 
was  concerned.  Edward  found  another  personal  favorite  in  Hugh 
le  Despenser.  Despenser  was  of  a  noble  English  family.  His 
father  had  been  councilor  to  Edward  I  and  was  a  steady  supporter 
of  Edward  H ;  he  M-as  not,  however,  liked  by  the  barons.  The 


DEPOSITION  OF  EDWARD  II 


I3I 

two  Despensers,  father  and  son,  resolved  to  destroy  the  influence 
of  Lancaster,  but  he  succeeded  in  getting  a  decree  passed  (1321) 
which  banished  the  Despensers  and  forfeited  their  estates.  Later, 
Lancaster  was  tried  for  disloyal  dealings  with  the  Scots  and  for 
fighting  against  the  king,  and  was  condemned  and  executed. 

143.  Parliament  of  York.  —  In  1322  Edward  held  a  Parlia¬ 
ment  at  York  which  revoked  the  “Ordinances”  (§140),  but 
laid  down  the  important  constitutional  statement,  “  all  matters 
to  be  established  for  the  estate  of  our  lord  the  king  and  his  heirs. 


the  realm,  and  the  people,  shall  be  treated,  granted,  and  established 
in  Parliament  by  our  lord  the  king,  and  by  the  consent  of  the 
clergy,  earls,  and  barons,  and  by  the  commonalty  of  the  realm.” 
Some  of  the  “  Ordinances  ”  were  reenacted,  and  it  seemed  for  a 
time  as  if  Edward  was  about  to  reform.  But  his  weakness  and 
incompetency  could  not  be  cured. 

144.  Mortimer.  Deposition  and  Death  of  Edward  II.  1327. 
—  In  1324  Edward  sent  Queen  Isabella  and  their  young  son, 
Edward,  whom  he  had  created  Duke  of  Aquitaine,  to  do  homage 
to  the  new  king  of  France  for  the  French  possessions  of  the  Eng¬ 
lish  crown.  Here  the  queen  met  Roger  Mortimer,  one  of  the 
chief  nobles  of  the  Welsh  marches.  With  him  she  plotted  not 


132 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


only  to  overthrow  the  Despensers,  who  had  returned,  but  also  to 
depose  the  king.  Isabella  landed  in  Suffolk  (September,  1326). 
London  and  the  barons  supported  her,  and  Edward  found  no  one 
to  help  him.  He  fled  to  the  west ;  there  the  king  and  the  De¬ 
spensers  were  captured ;  the  latter  were  executed,  while  the  king 
was  taken  to  Kenilworth  for  safe  keeping. 

The  young  prince,  Edward,  now  about  fourteen  years  old,  was 
proclaimed  “  Guardian  of  the  Kingdom,”  and  a  Parliament  was 
summoned  in  his  name.  This  met  in  January,  1327,  and  the  king 
was  forced  to  abdicate,  after  signing  a  declaration  of  his  own  mis¬ 
deeds  and  incompetency.  “  Parliament  renounced  the  homage 
and  fealty  of  its  members,  and  the  steward  of  the  household  pub¬ 
licly  broke  his  staff  as  a  token  that  Edward  II  had  ceased  to  reign.” 
After  eight  months  of  imprisonment  in  various  places,  the  unhappy 
ex-king  was  confined  in  Berkeley  castle,  where  he  was  murdered, 
by  whose  orcfer  or  by  whom  is  not  positively  known.^  The  depo¬ 
sition  of  Edward  was  effected  in  orderly  fashion  through  an  act 
of  Parliament  setting  forth  the  doctrine  that  an  unworthy  king 
should  not  rule.  There  had  been  no  deposition  of  a  king  since 
the  Norman  Conquest,  but  this  established  a  precedent,  and 
strengthened  the  position  of  Parliament. 

References.  —  Green,  S/wrf  History,  chap,  iv,  §§  1-6  ;  Gardiner,  Student's 
History,  chap,  xiv  ;  Terry,  History,  Part  II,  chap,  ix;  Part  III,  Book  I,  chaps, 
i-ii ;  Tout,  Advanced  History,  Book  III,  chaps,  ii-iii  ;  Stubbs,  /V(7«- 

tagenets,  chaps,  x-xii  ;  Traill,  Social  England,  vol.  II,  chap,  v  ;  Adams  and 
Stephens,  Select  Documents,  §§  37-55  ;  Cheyney,  Readings,  chap,  ix,  §  vi ; 
Colby,  Selections,  §§  ZlrTn  >  Kendall,  Source-Book,  §§  28-29  ;  Lee,  Source- 
Book,  chap,  xi,  §§  81-89. 

1  Whether  he  was  actually  murdered  is  doubted  by  some. 


CHAPTER  XI 


PERIOD  OF  THE  HUNDRED  YEARS’  WAR  AND  CLOSE 
OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

145.  Edward  III,  1327;  Independence  of  Scotland,  1328. 
—  Edward  III  was  about  fourteen  years  old  when  he  suc¬ 
ceeded  to  the  throne,  and  the  affairs  of  the  kingdom  were 
administered  by  a  council  which  was  wholly  under  the  control  of 
Isabella  and  her  favorite,  Roger  Mortimer.  King  Robert  Bruce 
(§§130,  138,  141),  believing  that  this  was  a  good,  time  to 
strengthen  his  position,  made  raids  into  England  which  it  seemed 
impossible  to  prevent,  as  the  Scots  had  no  regular  army  and 
avoided  direct  conflict.  At  last  a  treaty  was  made  with  Scotland 
(1328)  which  recognized  the  complete  independence  of  that 
country.  This  treaty,  known  as  the  Treaty  of  Northampton, 
though  really  a  wise  act,  was  very  unpopular,  and  the  peace 
obtained  by  it  was  considered  shameful.  Mortimer  also  managed 
to  have  Edmund,  Earl  of  Kent,  brother  of  Edward  II,  executed 
on  a  charge  of  treason.  Edmund  was  popular  and  his  execution 
was  generally  resented. 

146.  Fall  of  Isabella  and  Mortimer.  1330.  — The  barons, 
taking  it  as  a  warning  of  what  might  be  their  fate  at  the  hands  of 
the  arrogant  favorite  of  the  queen,  turned  for  a  leader  to  the 
young  king.  Edward  had  married  Philippa  of  Hainault  at  the 
early  age  of  fifteen,  and  now,  at  seventeen,  was  a  father  and 
mature  for  his  years.  Isabella  and  Mortimer,  suspecting  danger, 
had  retired  to  Nottingham  Castle.  Indignant  at  the  disregard 
and  disdain  with  which  he  was  treated  by  his  mother  and  her 
favorite,  Edward  willingly  lent  himself  to  a  plot  to  destroy  their 
power.  At  the  head  of  a  band  of  soldiers  he  entered  the  castle 

•33 


134 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


by  a  secret  passage,  and  arrested  Mortimer  with  his  own  hands. 
The  prisoner  was  taken  to  London,  tried,  condemned,  and  ex¬ 
ecuted.  Isabella  was  sent  to  Castle  Rising,  Yorkshire,  where  she 
was  kept  in  confinement  for  the  rest  of  her  life,  a  period  of 
twenty-eight  years. 

147.  Character  of  Edward  III.  —  Edward  was  now  about 

eighteen  years  old  (1330).  He  was  handsome,  accomplished, 
pleasing  and  chivalrous  in  his  manners,  and  a  patron  of  the  arts. 
He  was  strong  and  energetic,  and  a  brave  soldier.  On  the  other 
hand,  he  was  extravagant  and  thriftless,  fond  of  display,  and,  like 
most  nobles  of  his  time,  indifferent  to  the  rights  of  the  common 
people.  He  was,  moreover,  untrustworthy,  for  the  royal  word 
was  frequently  broken.  ' 

148.  Scottish  Succession,  1329;  Scottish  War,  1333.  —  On 
the  death  of  Robert  Bruce,  in  1329,  the  kingdom  of  Scotland  had 
passed  to  his  young  son,  David,  and  the  government  was  carried 
on  during  his  childhood  by  a  regency.^  Certain  barons,  dissat¬ 
isfied  with  conditions  in  Scotland,  resolved  to  put  on  the  Scottish 
throne  Edward  Balliol,  son  of  John  Balliol,  the  former  king 
(§  130).  The  attempt  was  successful  and  Balliol  was  crowned  at 
Scone  (1332).  He  accepted  Edward  as  his  feudal  lord,  and  the 
English  king  gave  his  support  to  the  new  claimant.  The  Scottish 
nobles,  however,  soon  rebelled  against  Balliol,  and  England  was 
involved  in  another  war.  After  varying  fortunes,  the  Scots  were 
defeated  at  Halidon  Hill  (July  19,  1333),  and  were  forced  to 
submit  to  Edward,  giving  up  to  him  all  their  country  south  of  the 
Firth  of  Forth.  Six  years  later  France,  roused  to  jealousy  by 
Edward’s  successes,  decided  to  come  to  the  aid  of  Scotland  in 
accordance  with  the  old  treaty  of  alliance  (§  132).  Troops 
were  hired  for  the  invasion  of  England,  and  Edward’s  forces  were 
all  needed  on  the  southern  coast.  Scotland  was  now  freed  from 

1  Regency,  a  government  carried  on  by  a  regent,  one  who  governs  a  country 
in  the  minority,  absence,  or  disability  of  the  king  or  ruler.  There  may  be  more 
than  one  regent. 


REIGN  OF  EDWARD  III 


135 


his  oversight,  and  the  nobles,  driving  Balliol  from  the  throne, 
brought  back  from  France,  where  he  had  taken  refuge,' the  youthful 
king,  David,  to  be  their  ruler  (1339).  This  time  Edward  was 
too  busy  on  the  Continent  to  interfere. 


Scottish  Kings  from  Robert  1 


Robert  I  (Bruce) 

1306-1329 
=  (i)  Isabella 
(2)  Margaret 

(2)  I  (i) 

I  I 

David  II  Margaret  =  Walter  Stewart  or  Stuart 

1324-1371  I 

Robert  II  (Stuart) 

1371-1390 
=  Elizabeth  Muir 

I 

Robert  III 
1390-1406 
=  Annabella 

I 

James  I 
1406-1437 
=  Joan 


Margaret  Eleanor  Elizabeth  JAMES  II 

=  Louis  XI  =  Sigismund  =  Francis  1437-1460 

of  France  of  Tyrol  of  Bretagne  =  Mary 


James  III  Mary 

1460-1488  =  James,  Lord  Hamilton 

=  Margaret  of  Denmark  | 


James  IV 
1488-1513 

=  Margaret  dau.  Henry  Vn  =  (2)  Archibald, 

I  of  England  Earl  of  Angus 

,  James  V  | 

1513-1542  Margaret 

=  (1)  Madaleine  dau. 

Francis  I  of  France 
(2)  Mary  of  Guise 

I 

(2)  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots 
1542-1567,  deposed 
=  (i)  Francis  H.  of  France 

(2)  Henry  Stuart,  Lord  Damley 

(3)  James,  Earl  of  Bothwell 


Elizabeth 

=  Mathew  Stuart,  Earl  of  Lenox 

I 

John,  Earl  of  Lenox 


Henry  Stuart  Charles  Stuart 

Lord  Darnley 
=  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots 

Arabella 
d.  1615 
=  William, 
Lord  Beauchamp 


(2)  James  VI  (of  Scotland  and  I  of  England) 
1567-1625  1603-1625 


136 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


149.  England  and  France.  1328-1338.  —  The  French  king, 
Philip  VI,  like  his  predecessors,  desired  to  lessen  the  power  of  the 
great  vassals  of  the  crown  and  to  bring  them  and  their  lands  under 
royal  sway.  While  the  French  kings  may  have  pursued  this  policy 
from  selfish  motives,  it  was  one  of  the  leading  tendencies  of  the  age, 
and  plays  an  important  part  in  the  history  of  succeeding  centuries. 

Philip  had  shrewdly  calculated  upon  the  help  that  his  Scottish  alli¬ 
ance  might  give,  and  began  a  series  of  aggressions  which  Edward  was 
bound  to  resist.  The  French  had  attacked  the  English  shipping 
and  even  landed  upon  the  Isle  of  Wight  (1336).  The  English  king 
made  alliances,  so  far  as  he  could,  with  all  the  governments  whose 
dominions  bordered  on  those  of  France,  and  he  even  succeeded 
in  persuading  the  Emperor  of  Germany  to  join  him.  These  alli¬ 
ances  were  gained  chiefly  by  the  payment  of  large  sums  of  money. 

150.  Edward  and  the  Flemings  ;  War  begun.  1338.  —  The  rela¬ 
tions  of  England  rvith  Flanders  (part  of  modern  Belgium)  were 
very  close.  Taking  advantage  of  business  interests  and  of  political 
hatred,  Edward  arranged  a  treaty  with  the  Flemish  burghers,  who 
were  eager  to  cast  off  their  allegiance  to  the  Count  of  Flanders 
and  to  maintain  peace  with  the  island  kingdom  which  supplied 
their  cities  with  wool  for  their  prosperous  industries. 

Edward  landed  in  Flanders  in  1338,  intending  to  attack  France 
from  that  side,  but  he  soon  found  that  he  could  not  depend  upon 
his  allies,  for  while  they  were  eager  to  get  all  the  money  out  of  him 
that  they  could,  they  would  do  little  fighting.  They  told  him  that 
as  the  king  of  France  was  their  overlord,  they  could  only  fight  for 
a  king  of  France.  Edward  had,  at  one  time,  claimed  this  title,  but 
had  given  it  up  in  1331.  Now  he  formally  reasserted  it  (1340), 
and  declared  that  he  was  fighting  for  his  crown.  But  the  real 
reason  was  that  he  thought  by  this  claim  that  he  would  please  the 
Flemings  and  thereby  gain  something  in  his  struggle  with  France.^ 

1  Charley  IV  of  France  died  (1328)  without  a  son,  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
cousin,  Philip  VI.  The  French  naturally  preferred  Philip,  a  Frenchman,  to  the 
other  claimants,  who  were  foreigners.  Isabella,  mother  of  Edward  III,  however, 
set  up  a  claim  to  the  French  crown  on  behalf  of  her  son,  on  the  ground  that  she  was  a 


THE  HUNDRED  YEARS’  WAR 


137 


151.  Beginning  of  the  Hundred  Years’  War.  1338.  —  By  this 
attack  Edward  began  what  is  called  The  Hundred  Years’  War,  a 
war  with  even  less  to  justify  it  than  most  wars  have  had.  On  the 
English  side,  the  war  was  almost  wholly 
one  of  conquest ;  on  that  of  the  French, 
a  struggle  against  foreign  rule.  That 
Philip  provoked  war  is  evident,  and  if 
the  character  of  the  age  can  be  taken 
into  consideration,  Edward  can  hardly 
be  blamed  for  retaliation ;  his  fault  lies 
in  the  fact  that  when  there  was  an  op¬ 
portunity  to  make  an  honorable  peace, 
he  declined  to  embrace  it. 

152.  England  supports  Edward ; 

French  Defeat  at  Sluys.  1340.  —  The 
English  Parliament  and  people  supported 

_  ,  ,  -  ,  ,  ■  1  ,  quartered  with  the  English 

Edward  tor  several  reasons  :  they  wished  Lons 
to  preserve  their  trade  with  Flanders ; 

they  resented  the  aid  given  by  France  to  Scotland ;  they  were 
angry  at  the  damage  done  to  English  shipping,  and  at  the  descent 
of  the  French  upon  the  Isle  of  Wight.  Parliament  voted  Edward 
supplies  after  he  had  promised  some  reforms.  He  had  come  back 
to  England  to  raise  funds,  but  Philip,  hoping  to  prevent  his  return 
to  the  continent,  gathered  a  great  fleet  at  Sluys  in  Flanders.  Ed¬ 
ward,  not  unprepared,  attacked  the  French  fleet  (1340).  As  the 

sister  of  Charles,  and  therefore  nearer  than  a  nephew.  The  French  asserted  that 
under  the  law,  the  succession  could  come  only  through  a  male  heir.  Edward  now 
revived  this  old  claim,  saying  that  though  his  mother  might  not  inherit,  he  could. 
The  claim  was  not  as  flimsy  in  that  age  as  it  would  be  now,  but  Edward  had  already, 
on  account  of  his  French  possessions,  done  homage  to  Philip  as  king  of  France, 
his  overlord,  and,  moreover,  a  grandson  of  Louis  X,  afterwards  Charles  the  Bad  of 
Navarre,  had  been  bom  since  1328,  and  his  claim  according  to  Edward’s  own  argu¬ 
ment  was  better  than  his.  But  Edward  took  the  title  to  please  the  Flemings  and 
added  the  French  fleur-de-lis  to  his  coat  of  arms,  took  as  his  motto  Dieu  et  mon 
Droit  (God  and  my  Right),  and  styled  himself  king  of  England  and  France.  The 
lilies  of  France  remained  in  the  arms,  and  France  m  the  official  title,  of  the  English 
monarchs  until  1801.  The  motto  is  still  retained. 


Coat  of  Arms  adopted 
BY  Edward  III 

The  French  fleurs-de-lis 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


138 

vessels  drew  near  one  another,  the  English  archers  swept  the  decks 
of  the  French  ships  with  their  arrows  and  won  the  day.  The 
French  fleet  was  almost  annihilated  and  thousands  of  men  perished. 
So  great  was  the  disaster,  according  to  the  story,  that  for  a  time  no 
one  dared  to  report  it  to  the  French  king.  At  length,  the  court 
jester  said  to  him,  “  What  cowards  these  English  are  !  ”  and  when 
asked  why,  replied,  “  Because  they  dare  not  leap  into  the  sea  as 
our  brave  Frenchmen  did.”  For  thirty  years  or  more  after  this 
victory,  England  was  supreme  at  sea  and  all  fear  of  a  French  in¬ 
vasion  was  dispelled. 

153.  Policy  of  Philip  of  France. — Edward,  for  some  unex¬ 
plained  reason,  did  not  follow  up  his  victory.  He  besieged  a 
city  and  spent  months  in  vainly  trying  to  get  Philip  to  agree  to 
settle  their  differences  in  a  fair  fight,  but  Philip’s  policy  was  to 
avoid  an  open  battle.^  In  this  way  he  tired  out  his  adversary 
and  caused  him  to  spend  large  sums  of  money  in  maintaining  his 
army.  At  length  Edward  was  glad  to  make  a  truce  for  nine  months 
and  return  home  (1341).  Beyond  the  destruction  of  the  French 
fleet,  he  had  gained  nothing,  but  had  rather  lost. 

French  Kings,  Showing  Claim  of  Edward  III 
Louis  IX,  "Saint  Louis" 

I 

Philip  III 
1270-1285 


Philip  IV,  the  Fair  Margaret  Charles,  Count  of  Valois 

1285-1314  =  Edward  I 

of  England 

- [ - - - 1 - 1  Philip  VI 

Louis  X  Isabella  PHILIP  V  CHARLES  IV'  1328-1350 
1314-1316  =  Edward  II  1316-1322  1322-1328 

I  of  England 

John  I  | 

b.andd.1316  Edward  III 
of  England 

1  It  was  much  easier  to  do  this  in  that  age  than  now,  for  the  strength  of  a  coun¬ 
try  lay  in  jts  fortified  towns.  Many  of  these  it  was  almost  impossible  to  take  ex¬ 
cept  after  a  long  siege  in  which  hunger  was  the  chief  weapon.  If  a  king  did  not 
wish  to  fight,  he  simply  kept  his  forces  in  the  castles  or  fortified  cities  and  let  his 
enemy  ravage  the  land. 


ENGLISH  VICTORIES 


139 


154.  The  Breton  Succession ;  Renewal  of  French  War ;  Crky, 
1346.  —  The  Duke  of  Brittany  had  died  leaving  no  direct  male 
heir,  and  according  to  Breton  law  the  daughter  inherited  ;  but  with 
absolute  inconsistency,  Edward  sup¬ 
ported  the  indirect  male  claim¬ 
ant.  His  reason,  doubtless,  was  that 
Brittany  would  be  a  good  place  from 
which  to  attack  France.  Accord¬ 
ingly,  in  1346,  he  took  a  large  army 
into  France  by  way  of  Brittany. 

Philip  pursued  his  old  policy  of 
avoiding  an  open  battle.  After  rav¬ 
aging  Normandy,  Edward  marched 
in  the  direction  of  Paris.  At  last 
Philip,  having  a  much  larger  army, 
attacked  him  at  Crecy.  Here  Ed¬ 
ward,  who  had  chosen  his  position 
skillfully,  gained  one  of  the  greatest 
victories  in  English  history  (August 
26,  1346). 

“It  was  a  victory  of  foot-soldiers  over  horse-soldiers,  of  a 
nation  in  which  all  ranks  joined  heartily  together,  over  one  in 
which  all  ranks,  except  that  of  the  gentry,  were  despised.”  It 
was  chiefly  to  the  archers  that  the  success  was  due.  The  battle 
was  a  death  blow  to  the  strictly  feudal  idea  that  the  knight  was  all 
in  all. 

It  was  at  this  battle  that  Edward’s  son,  afterwards  known  as 
the  “  Black  Prince,”  won  his  spurs  and  was  knighted,  though 
only  about  sixteen  years  old.* 

155.  Capture  of  Calais.  1347.  —  Edward  had  punished  Nor¬ 
mandy;  it  was  now  the  turn  of  Calais.  He  found  it  necessary  to 
besiege  the  city,  which,  after  holding  out  for  nearly  a  year,  at  last 

J  So  called,  probably,  from  the  color  of  his  armor.  The  armor  of  the  Black 
Prince  still  hangs  in  Canterbury  Cathedral. 


140 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


surrendered  on  account  of  lack  of  food  (August  4,  1347).  At  the 
intercession,  it  is  said,  of  Queen  Philippa,  Edward  treated  the 
inhabitants  with  reasonable  clemency.  Those  who  took  the  oath 
of  allegiance  to  him  were  allowed  to  remain,  the  others  were 
expelled.  English  colonists  were  brought  over,  the  walls  were 
repaired,  a  strong  garrison  was  stationed  there,  and  a  market  for 
wool,  tin,  lead,  etc.,  was  established.  Calais  became  a  prosperous 
city,  remaining  in  the  hands  of  the  English  for  two  hundred  and 
ten  years  (§  281).  Soon  after  the  surrender  of  Calais,  a  truce  for 
six  years  was  arranged.' 

The  Scots,  who  had  practically  regained  their  independence, 
took  advantage  of  Edward’s  absence  to  invade  England ;  but 
they  were  badly  defeated  at  Nevil’s  Cross  (October  17,  1346), 
and  their  king,  David  Bruce,  was  taken  prisoner. 

156.  Advent  of  Luxury  ;  Chivalry.  —  Edward  was  received  by 
the  English  with  enthusiasm.  The  spoils  of  war  were  rich,  and 
reckless  extravagance,  especially  among  the  upper  classes,  pre¬ 
vailed.^  Tournaments,  shows,  celebrations  of  various  kinds,  were 
frequent ;  and  the  effect  of  foreign  influences  was  seen  in  domestic 
and  church  architecture,  as  well  as  in  household  living. 

One  of  the  influential  institutions  of  the  age  was  what  is  known 
as  Chivalry.  The  word  is  hard  to  define,  but  chivalry  itself  may  be 
described  as  a  code  of  rules  based  upon  certain  ideals  of  conduct, 
as,  that  every  knight  should  be  courageous ;  devoted  to  his  lord ; 
respectful  to  ladies  and  eager  to  serve  them  ;  that  he  should  be 
generous,  loyal,  and  true,  and  strive  to  render  justice.  Nominally 
high  in  its  ideals,  its  rules  applied  only  to  persons  having  the 
rank  of  a  knight  or  a  higher  rank ;  it  set  forth  fighting  as  the 
noblest  occupation  that  a  man  could  follow,  but  too  often  under 

1  It  was  at  the  siege  of  Calais  that  cannon  were  used  for  the  first  time.  They 
appear  to  have  been  of  little  value  owing  to  their  faulty  construction  and  the  gun¬ 
ners’  ignorance  of  how  to  use  them.  It  has  been  said  that  they  were  first  em¬ 
ployed  at'CrScy,  but  this  seems  to  be  an  error. 

It  was  at  this  time  (1348)  that  Edward  established  the  well-known  order  of  the 
Garter  by  decorating  a  selected  band  of  his  knights  with  a  blue  garter. 


ECONOMIC  CHANGES 


I4I 

color  of  chivalry  men  were  brutal  and  immoral.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  can  be  hardly  questioned  that,  where  the  rules  were 
applicable,  life  was  somewhat  less  coarse,  woman  was  held  in 
higher  esteem,  and  courtesy  and  consideration  were  more  com¬ 
mon  than  they  would  otherwise  have  been.^  Perhaps  its  worst 
fault,  if  no  stronger  word  be  used,  was  the  utter  disregard  of  the 
rights  of  those  outside  its  pale ;  for  in  the  view  of  the  knight  the 
common  people  had  no  rights. 

157.  The  Black  Death.  1349-  —  In  the  midst  of  the  rejoicing 
and  the  luxurious  living  in  England  came  a  devastating  pestilence 
known  as  the  Black  Death.  Like  most  similar  visitations,  it  ap¬ 
pears  to  have  started  in  Asia  and  moved  gradually  westward.  In 
the  early  part  of  1348  it  was  in  central  France,  and  by  August  it 
made  its  appearance  in  England.  So  far  as  is  known,  it  was  the 
most  destructive  of  all  pestilences.'  It  is  estimated  that,  before  it 
ran  its  course,  about  half  the  population  of  England  perished.^ 

Though  great  economic  changes  would  have  come  about  in  any 
case,  this  terrible  disaster  had  of  necessity  important  effects 
upon  the  social  and  economic  life  of  England.  The  plague  had 
fallen  most  heavily  upon  the  working  classes,  on  account  of  the 
unsanitary  conditions  of  their  home  surroundings.  The  supply  of 
agricultural  laborers  decreased  at  least  one  half  and  wages  rose. 
By  this  time  rents  and  wages  were  generally  paid  in  money.  There 
were,  however,  many  who  were  still  under  the  old  feudal  laws,  and 
these  were  unable  to  demand  an  increase  in  wages  as  the  others 
could.  They  therefore  refused  to  work  for  their  lords.  The  land- 

1  Tennyson’s  poem  "  Sir  Galahad  ”  is  the  picture  of  an  ideal  knight  of  the  most 
lofty  character. 

2  Some  authorities  believe  that  the  Black  Death  was  what  is  now  known  as  the 
bubonic  plague. 

*  Augustus  Jessopp  tells  us  that  the  records  show  that  in  one  Norfolk  Manor 
Court  five  law  cases  in  1340  were  adjourned  from  the  20th  of  March  to  the  23d  of 
April.  When  the  cases  were  called,  out  of  the  sixteen  persons  concerned,  princi¬ 
pals  and  witnesses,  eleven  were  dead  of  the  plague.  In  a  single  year  upwards  of 
eight  hundred  parishes  of  Norfolk  and  Suffolk  lost  their  parsons,  eighty-three  of 
them  twice,  and  ten  three  times. 


142 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


lords,  owing  to  scarcity  of  help,  were  often  obliged  to  accede  to 
the  demands  of  the  laborers.  In  this  trouble  they  appealed  to  the 
king,  who  issued  an  ordinance  requiring  laborers  to  work  for  the 
same  wages  that  were  paid  before  the  Black  Death.  Those  who 
refused  to  comply  were  to  be  imprisoned,  and  the  landlords  or 
masters  who  offered  to  pay  higher  wages  were  to  forfeit  twice  the 
amount  paid. 

158.  Statute  of  Laborers.  1351.  —  When  Parliament  met 
(1351)  it  passed  the  first  Statute  of  Laborers,  practically  confirm¬ 
ing  what  the  king  had  already  ordered.  It  is  not  surprising  that 
some  such  law  was  enacted,  for  the  working  classes  were  wholly 
unrepresented  in  Parliament  and  were  generally  held  to  exist 
chiefly  for  the  benefit  of  the  upper  classes.  This  legislation  did 
not  indicate  any  special  feeling  against  the  lower  classes,  for  the 
landlords  were  simply  trying  to  preserve  that  which  they  had  been 
brought  up  to  consider  as  their  right,  and  which  generations  of 
laborers  had  never  thought  of  contesting. 

It  was  found  impossible  to  enforce  the  Statute  of  Laborers,  for  the 
landholders  themselves  preferred  to  pay  high  wages  and  even  fines 
rather  than  lose  their  crops  altogether.  But  these  laws  caused  hard 
feeling  between  the  classes  and  ultimately  led  to  rebellion  (1381). 

159.  Poitiers.  1356.  —  Philip  of  France  died  in  1350,  and 
was  succeeded  by  his  son  John.  In  1355  the  war  with  France 
was  renewed.  The  Black  Prince  landed  in  Bordeaux  and  began 
a  campaign  which  was  little  better  than  a  pillaging  expedition. 
While  he  was  on  his  way  back  to  Bordeaux,  he  was  met  near 
Poitiers  by  King  John  with  a  force  about  four  times  as  large  as 
his  own.  John,  sure  that  he  had  the  English  in  his  power,  de¬ 
manded  severe  terms  of  surrender.  The  Black  Prince  could  not 
accept  them,  and  resolved  to  fight.  As  at  Cr6cy  (§  154)  the 
English  chose  a  strong  position  and  stationed  their  troops  skill¬ 
fully,  again  trusting  mainly  to  the  archers.  In  the  battle  which 
followed,  the  French  were  defeated  with  heavy  losses,  and  King 
John  and  his  younger  son  with  hundreds  of  knights  were  taken 


TREATY  OF  BRETIGNY 


143 


prisoners.  A  truce  was  made  for  two  years  and  the  Black  Prince 
returned  to  England  with  his  captives.  Meanwhile  peace  was 
made  with  Scotland  and  David  Bruce  was  released  on  the  promise 
of  paying  a  large  sum  of  money. 

160.  France  in  1359.  Treaty  of  Bretigny.  1360.  —  Edward 
offered  to  make  peace  with  France,  but  his  terms  were  too  hard 
for  the  Dauphin,  the  king’s  son  and  regent,  to  accept.  Edward 
accordingly  again  invaded  France  in  1359.  He  found  the  country 
in  a  sad  state,  peasants  in  revolt,  and  nobles  oppressing  the  peas¬ 
ants  in  order  to  obtain  funds  to  redeem  their  relatives  held  in  cap¬ 
tivity.  The  Italian  poet,  Petrarch,  who  visited  France  about  this 
time,  says,  “  I  could  not  believe  that  this  was  the  same  kingdom 
which  I  had  seen  so  rich  and  flourishing.  Nothing  presented 
itself  to  my  eyes  but  a  fearful  solitude,  an  extreme  poverty,  land 
uncultivated,  houses  in  ruins,  even  the  neighborhood  of  Paris 
manifested  everywhere  marks  of  destruction  and  conflagration. 
The  streets  were  deserted ;  the  roads  overgrown  with  weeds ;  the 
whole  is  a  vast  solitude.” 

Finally,  in  1360,  the  Treaty  of  Bretigny  was  made,  by  which 
Edward,  giving  up  his  claims  to  the  French  crown  and  to  the 
lands  north  of  .Aquitaine,  was  to  receive  all  Aquitaine  and  the  dis¬ 
tricts  around  Calais  and  Ponthieu,  these  to  be  held  absolutely  and 
with  no  feudal  obligations.  King  John  died  a  captive. 

References.  —  Green,  Short  History,  chap,  v,  §  l  ;  Gardiner,  Student's 
History,  chap,  xv  ;  Terry,  History,  Part  III,  Book  I,  chap,  iii  ;  Tout,  Advanced 
History,  Book  III,  chap,  iv,  §  l-lS  ;  A.  Jessopp,  Coming  of  the  Friars,  etc., 
Essay  iv  ;  Traill,  Social  England,  vol.  II,  chap,  vi,  in  part  ;  Adams  and 
Stephens,  Select  Documents,  §§  55-76  ;  Cheyney,  Readings,  chap,  x,  §§  i-iv  ; 
Colby,  Selections,  §§  38-40  ;  Kendall,  Source-Book,  §§  28-33  ;  Lee,  Source- 
Book,  chap,  xi,  §§  90-93,  chap.  xii. 


CHAPTER  XII 


PERIOD  OF  THE  HUNDRED  YEARS’  WAR  {Continued)-, 
SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  CHANGES  IN  ENGLAND 

161.  English  Failure  in  France.  1368-1375.  —  It  was  impos¬ 
sible  for  the  Treaty  of  Br6tigny  to  be  a  permanent  settlement,  for 
Aquitaine  was  French  and  would  not  rest  quietly  under  English 
rule. 

Edward,  the  Black  Prince,  was  made  Duke  of  Aquitaine  and 
sent  to  rule  the  country.  His  rule  was  far  from  wise;  he  suffered 
himself  to  be  entangled  in  Spanish  affairs ;  and  he  aided  with 
troops  the  wicked  Pedro  the  Cruel  who  had  been  driven  from  the 
Spanish  throne.  Though  successful  at  first,  the  campaign  ended 
disastrously.  Edward,  with  but  a  fifth  of  his  army,  returned  to 
Bordeaux,  broken  in  health  and  owing  large  sums  of  money  for 
which  Pedro  had  failed  to  reimburse  him.  To  get  funds  he  laid 
a  hearth  tax  *  on  the  Gascons ;  but  they  refused  to  pay  it  and 
appealed  to  the  king  of  France,  as  their  liege  lord,  for  redress. 
Although  such  an  appeal  was  contrary  to  the  provisions  of  the 
Treaty  of  Br^tigny  (§  160),  which  expressly  gave  Aquitaine  and 
the  other  province  to  Edward  free  of  feudal  obligations,  Charles  V 
(§  160,  note)  summoned  the  Black  Prince  to  appear  before  him 
at  Paris. 

The  Prince  replied,  “  We  will  go  to  the  court  of  Paris,  since 
the  king  orders  it ;  but  it  shall  be  with  helmet  on  head  and  sixty 
thousand  men  behind  us.”  The  war  now  broke  out  again. 
Charles  the  Fifth  was  a  wiser  man  than  his  father,  and  he  had 
able  generals,  perhaps  the  best  of  whom  was  Bernard  Du  Guesclin. 
Their  policy  was  the  old  one  of  avoiding  battle,  and  of  letting  the 

1  A  hearth  tax  was  a  tax  upon  every  fireplace,  and  so  fell  upon  rich  and  poor 
alike.  It  was  always  an  unpopular  way  of  raising  revenue. 

'44 


ENGLISH  POSSESSIONS  IN  FRANCE 


145 


146 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


English  use  up  their  strength  by  marching  hither  and  thither 
through  the  country.  Though  hard  on  the  French  people,  it  was 
wise  from  a  military  point  of  view.  In  the  course  of  the  cam¬ 
paign,  the  Black  Prince  recaptured  Limoges,  since  so  celebrated 
for  its  manufacture  of  china,  and  in  revenge  ordered  more  than 
three  thousand  of  its  inhabitants,  men,  women,  and  children,  to 
be  butchered ;  so  little  did  chivalry,  in  that  day,  count  for  those 
who  according  to  its  code  were  not  gentlefolk. 

The  Black  Prince  was  now  forced  to  return  to  England  on 
account  of  his  failing  health.  The  war  was  continued  under  the 
command  of  John  of  Gaunt  (Ghent)  a  younger  son  of  Edward  III. 
The  English  were  unsuccessful  everywhere,  and  in  1375,  when  a 
truce  was  made,  only  Calais,  Cherbourg,  Bayonne,  Brest,  and 
Bordeaux  were  left  in  English  hands. 

162.  Last  Years  of  Edward  III.  —  The  last  years  of  the  reign 
of  Edward  III  were  years  of  trouble,  if  not  of  disgrace.  The 
good  Queen  Philippa  had  died  and  the  king  came  under  the 
influence  of  a  certain  Alice  Perrers,  who  wheedled  the  prema¬ 
turely  old  man  into  doing  just  what  she  and  her  favorites  wished. 
The  Black  Prince  was  ill  of  an  incurable  disease,  which  prevented 
him  from  taking  part  in  public  affairs,  and  the  younger  son  of 
Edward,  John  of  Gaunt,  Duke  of  Lancaster,  was  a  selfish,  unprin¬ 
cipled  man  who  clung  to  the  old  narrow  policy  of  the  barons. 

The  wars  in  France  and  the  extravagance  of  the  court  had  so 
exhausted  the  treasury  and  the  ordinary  means  of  raising  money 
that  it  was  found  necessary  to  call  a  Parliament  in  1376.  This  is 
known  as  the  “  Good  Parliament.”  The  Black  Prince,  now  on 
a  sick  bed,  supported  as  far  as  possible  this  body,  which  took 
unexpectedly  strong  measures  of  reform.  They  elected  a  Speaker 
to  represent  them,  and  impeached  two  members  of  the  royal 
council  together  with  Alice  Perrers.^ 

163.  The  “Good  Parliament,”  (1376),  Death  of  Edward  III, 
1377.  — tJnfortunately  the  Black  Prince  died,  and  the  Parliament 

1  This  is  the  first  case  of  impeachment  by  Parliament  (1376). 


GROWTH  OF  PARLIAMENT 


147 


then  in  session,  fearing  the  power  of  John  of  Gaunt,  begged  the 
king  to  recognize  Richard,  the  little  son  of  the  Black  Prince,  as 
heir  to  the  crown.  The  Commons  insisted  on  having  Richard 
brought  before  them  (1376),  “that  they  might  see  and  honor 
him  as  the  very  heir  apparent.”  The  “Good  Parliament”  ad¬ 
journed,  having  done  a  good  work,  but  hardly  had  the  members 
reached  their  homes,  before  John  of  Gaunt  took  the  reins  again, 


Tomb  of  the  Black  Prince  in  Canterbury  Cathedral 


recalled  Alice  Perrers,  arrested  the  Speaker  of  the  late  Parliament, 
and  did  all  he  could  to  nullify  its  reforms.  A  new  Parliament 
was  called  which,  so  far  as  it  could,  reversed  the  work  of  its  pred¬ 
ecessor.  In  1377  Edward  III  died,  after  a  reign  of  fifty-one 
years.  He  had  long  outlived  his  usefulness  and  at  the  time  of  his 
death  was  practically  imbecile.  His  good  fortune  in  following 
such  a  weak  man  as  Edward  1 1,  with  his  military  successes  in  the 
earlier  years  of  his  reign,  and  a  certain  amount  of  personal  dig¬ 
nity,  have  given  him  an  unduly  high  rank  in  history. 

164.  Growth  of  Parliament.  —  The  real  interest  of  Edward’s 
reign  lies,  not  in  the  brilliant  victories  of  Crecy  (§  154)  and 
Poitiers  (§  159),  or  in  the  successes  in  Scotland,  but  in  the 


148 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


growth  and  development  of  the  national  feeling  as  shown  in  the 
political,  literary,  religious,  and  social  conditions  of  England. 
The  most  important  political  feature  is  the  increase  in  the  power 
of  Parliament.  Practically  annual  sessions  were  held  throughout 
the  reign.  The  knights  of  the  shire  sat  beside  the  representatives 
of  the  towns  and  greatly  aided  in  establishing  the  dignity  and 
importance  of  the  Commons.  The  growing  feeling  of  distrust 
toward  the  king  made  Parliament  watchful  of  legislation,  and 
helped  to  establish  precedents  that  were  very  useful.  The  power 
of  the  Commons  became  greater,  and,  in  time,  the  consent  of 
both  houses  was  necessary  for  legislation.  As  Edward’s  needs 
forced  him  to  yield  more  and  more,  it  came  about  that,  by  the 
end  of  his  reign,  no  money  could  be  raised  by  taxation  except 
with  the  consent  of  Parliament.  Furthermore,  the  royal  ministers 
and  officers  were  held  responsible  to  Parliament  and  could  be  im¬ 
peached  for  misconduct.  These  were  great  constitutional  gains. 

165.  The  English  Language.  —  Another  striking  feature  of 
Edward’s  reign  is  the  growth  in  the  use  of  the  English  language. 
The  Norman  influence  had  been  so  strong  that  Edward  himself 
never  learned  to  speak  English  fluently,  and  French  was  still  the 
language  of  the  court.*  Latin  was  the  language  of  the  church  and 
the  universities,  and  French  that  of  the  law  courts.  By  1362  the 
proceedings  in  the  law  courts  were  ordered  to  be  carried  on  in 
English ;  the  dislike  felt  toward  the  French  on  account  of  the 
Hundred  Years’  War  greatly  decreased  the  use  of  the  French 
tongue,  and  English  began  to  be  generally  used  for  all  purposes. 
Scarcely  any  attempt  had  been  made  to  reproduce  English 
speech  in  literary  form,  and  the  writings  of  Langland  and  Chaucer 
(§  167)  were  at  once  a  result  and  a  cause  of  the  greater  use  of 
the  English  language. 

166.  England  and  the  Papacy. —  But  not  only  in  political  and 
literary  ipatters  was  the  reign  of  Edward  III  an  epoch.  Some  of 
the  social  movements  have  already  been  noticed  (§  156),  to  these 

1  It  is  not  likely  that  Edward  I  understood  English. 


CHANGES  DURING  REIGN  OF  EDWARD  III 


149 


must  be  added  a  great  religious  movement  as  well,  though,  as  was 
the  case  with  the  social  movements,  the  most  important  features 
belong  to  the  next  reign. 

The  Popes  of  Rome  had,  since  1309,  resided  at  Avignon  on  the 
borders  of  eastern  France.  As  they  were  under  French  influence, 
the  English,  already  more  than  restive  under  the  requirements  of 
the  church,  became  more  and  more  averse  to  contributing  to  the 
expenses  of  the  papal  court.  The  intervention  of  the  Pope  in 
English  ecclesiastical  matters  was,  moreover,  increasingly  disliked, 
not  so  much  because  he  was  the  Pope  as  because  he  was  a  for¬ 
eigner.  For  a  long  time  the  bishops,  abbots,  and  various  members 
of  the  clergy  had  been  appointed  by  persons  who  were  granted 
the  privilege  by  the  Pope.  This  privilege  was  called  the  “  right 
of  provision.”  In  1351  Parliament  passed  the  first  Statute  of  Pro¬ 
visors,  which  made  all  persons  receiving  such  “  provisions  ”  liable 
to  imprisonment,  and  forfeited  the  office  itself  to  the  crown.  The 
first  Statute  of  Praemunire,  passed  in  1353,  forbade  any  appeal  to 
foreign  courts,  and  punished  with  forfeiture  and  imprisonment  any 
who  should  appeal. 

The  abuses,  moreover,  which  had  crept  into  the  church  were  too 
evident  to  be  denied.  But  the  opposition  to  the  churchmen  was 
not  wholly  on  account  of  their  worldliness  ;  many  envied  them  their 
power,  for  they  frequently  held  political  as  well  as  clerical  positions. 
“In  the  Parliament  of  1371,  bishops  were  declared  unfit  to  hold 
offices  of  state.”  Among  those  who  were  thus  deprived  of  politi¬ 
cal  office  was  the  great  William  of  Wykeham,  Bishop  of  Winchester, 
“who  used  his  wealth  to  found  (1379)  at  Winchester  the  first  great 
public  school  in  England,”  now  known  as  Winchester  College. 

167.  Langland  and  Chaucer.  —  That  the  opposition  was  not 
against  the  church,  but  against  unfaithful  churchmen,  and  that 
there  was  a  real  desire  in  England  fora  better  life,  is  clearly  shown 
by  the  writings  of  William  Langland.  His  poem,  “The  Vision  of 
Piers  Plowman,”  first  appeared  in  1362.  It  is  a  satire,  in  the  form 
of  a  vision,  in  which  the  narrator  sees  the  selfishness  of  those  in 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


150 

power,  and  especially  the  evil  practices  of  those  who  hold  offices 
in  the  church.  His  idea  is  not  destruction,  but  reform.  His 
sympathies  are  wholly  with  the  common  people,  though  he  recog¬ 
nizes  the  need  of  all  classes  to  make  up  an  ideal  community,  a 
community  in  which  justice  and  right  shall  rule.  His  great  con¬ 
temporary,  Chaucer,  on  the  contrary,  is  rather  the  poet  of  the 
upper  classes.  He  is  neither  a  reformer  nor  a  moralist.  He 
pictures  life  as  he  sees  it,  and  the  portraits  which  he  draws  are 
unsurpassed  for  vividness  and  truthfulness.  He  is  unmistakably 
modern  in  his  point  of  view  and  belongs  to  the  period  that  we  are 
accustomed  to  call  the  Renaissance  (§  223).  He  seems  to  have 
almost  equal  pleasure  in  depicting  the  “  poor  parson  of  the  town  ” 
whose  life  was  an  ideal  one,  and  the  wanton  “  wife  of  Bath.” 
Still  it  must  be  said  that  Chaucer  never  makes  vice  attractive ;  he 
simply  portrays  life  as  it  exists  and  leaves  the  reader  to  draw  the 
moral  lesson. 

168.  Ireland.  1367-1377.  —  The  English  kings  had  not  been 
successful  in  firmly  establishing  their  rule  in  Ireland.  The  Irish 
were  a  collection  of  tribes  varying  in  their  customs  and  laws  and 
in  the  degree  of  their  civilization.  Banding  together  at  one  time 
against  a  common  foe,  they  would  at  another  be  at  enmity  among 
themselves.  The  English  power  at  no  period  extended  much 
beyond  the  neighborhood  of  Dublin.  The  war  with  France  took 
so  much  of  the  attention  of  the  English  that  Ireland  was  practi¬ 
cally  neglected,  but  after  the  Treaty  of  Brdtigny  (§  160)  it  was 
felt  that  the  English  interests  in  that  island  should  be  preserved 
and  extended.  After  about  six  years  of  effort,  attended  with  but 
little  success,  a  Parliament  of  the  English  colonists  was  called  in 
1367.  This  body  passed  what  is  known  as  the  Statute  of  Kil¬ 
kenny,  to  define  the  relations  which  should  exist  between  the 
English  residents  and  the  native  Irish.  A  line  was  fixed,  though 
it  was  changed  afterwards  from  time  to  time,  within  which  English 
customs  and  laws  were  to  prevail.  Englishmen  living  within  the 
Pale  (see  map  of  Ireland,  page  219),  as  it  was  called,  were  forbid- 


RICHARD  II 


I5I 

den  to  use  the  Irish  language,  to  marry  Irish  wives,  or  to  adopt 
Irish  customs  and  laws,  and  equally  strict  regulations  were  made 
regarding  the  Irish  living  within  the  Pale.  The  legislators  seemed 
to  have  thought  it  was  better  to  be  actual  rulers  over  a  little,  than 
nominal  ones  over  much. 

It  was  found  impossible  to  enforce  the  statute.  There  was  * 
rebellion  among  the  English  settlers,  and  incursions  on  the  part  of 
the  Irish  were  frequent;  while  the  war  with  France,  which  had 
broken  out  at  this  time,  made  it  impracticable  for  the  English  to 
do  much  in  the  way  of  organizing  a  strong  government. 

169.  Richard  II ;  Taxes.  1377.  —  Richard  II  was  about  eleven 
years  old  when  he  came  to  the  throne.  There  was  no  opposition 
to  his  succession,  and  a  council  was  appointed  to  govern  the 
country  until  he  should  come  of  age.  This  included  members  of 
the  opposing  factions,  but  the  king’s  uncles,  including*  the  Duke 
of  Lancaster,  were  excluded,  though  this  fact  did  not  much  in¬ 
terfere  with  the  latter’s  influence  with  the  government. 

The  war  with  France  continued,  the  French  pillaged  the  south¬ 
ern  coasts  of  England,  the  English  armies  in  France  were  unsuc¬ 
cessful,  and  expenses  were  heavy.  Parliament,  it  is  true,  had 
granted  large  sums,  but  had  limited  the  expenditure  more  strictly 
than  had  been  attempted  before.  Taxes  did  not  bring  in  so  large 
an  amount  as  had  been  anticipated,  and  other  taxes  were  levied, 
among  them  a  poll  tax  ^(1379,  1380).  This  tax,  laid  on  every 
one  over  twelve  years  old,  was  one  which  could  not  easily  be 
evaded  and  was  levied  on  rich  and  poor  alike,  and  of  course  was 
relatively  much  higher  for  the  poor  than  for  the  rich.  Its  im¬ 
position  at  once  aroused  class  feeling. 

170.  Peasants’  Revolt.  1381. — The  Black  Death,  as  we 
have  seen  (§  157),  exercised  no  small  influence  upon  wages 
and  upon  the  condition  of  the  laborers,  but  there  were  also  large 
numbers  of  villeins  (small  farmers)  who  had  good  reason  for  dis¬ 
content.  Two  burdens  were  especially  grievous  :  (i)  the  villein 

1  Parliament  had  laid  a  small  poll  tax  (a  tax  on  persons)  in  1377. 


152 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


could  not  plead  in  court  against  his  lord,  and  so  had  no  legal 
means  of  redress  against  injustice  at  the  hands  of  him  with  whom 
he  had  most  to  do;  (2)  he  could  not  legally  sell  the  land  he 
occupied,  or  leave  the  farm,  without  permission  from  his  lord. 

The  legislation  which  had  attempted  to  regulate  labor  had 
failed,  owing  to  natural  causes ;  but  it  had  stirred  up  a  strong 
class  feeling  which  needed  very  little  to  rouse  it  into  action. 
These  taxes  were  the  match  that  lighted  the  fire.  The  revolt  be¬ 
gan  in  Essex  (May,  1381),  and  before  a  month  had  passed,  it  had 
spread  through  the  southern  counties  of  England.  Manor  houses 
were  burnt,  legal  records  destroyed,  landlords,  law  officers,  and 
others  murdered,  and  scenes  of  violence  enacted  far  and  near. 
Before  the  middle  of  June,  a  large  band  of  Kentish  rebels  ap¬ 
proached  London  and  encamped  on  Blackheath,  about  five  miles 
from  London  Bridge. 

John  Ball,  a  popular  preacher,  and  Walter  Tyler,  commonly 
known  as  Wat  Tyler,  were  among  the  leaders.  John  Ball,  the 
principal  agitator,  was  a  religious  zealot  who  had  been  traveling 
around  the  country  for  twenty  years  or  more  preaching  his  doc¬ 
trine  of  equality  for  all  men.  He  attacked  church  and  state 
alike,  for  he  believed  that  all  existing  institutions  were  wrong. 
All  things,  he  said,  should  be  in  common,  and  there  should  be 
neither  lord  nor  vassal.  “  Are  we  not,”  he  would  say,  “  all  de¬ 
scended  from  Adam  and  Eve  ?  ”  This  caught  the  popular  ear, 
and  the  great  burden  of  the  day  became  : 

I  “  When  Adam  delved  and  Eve  span 

Who  was  then  a  gentleman?  ”  ^ 

171.  Attack  upon  London.  1381. — The  mob  was  swelled  by 
recruits  from  other  counties,  and  on  the  13th  of  June^  London 

1  John  Ball  had  been  imprisoned  at  Maidstone,  Kent,  for  his  attacks  on  the 
church,  but  had  been  released  by  the  rebels  a  few  days  before,  and  had  joined  the 
mob  in  front  of  London.  He  delivered  a  sermon  before  the  great  gathering,  taking 
for  his  text,  it  is  said,  the  couplet  quoted  above. 

2  It  is  thought  that  the  mob  at  this  time  numbered  100,000  men. 


THE  PEASANTS’  REVOLT 


153 


opened  its  gates.  Fortunately  for  himself,  John  of  Gaunt,  who 
was  the  special  object  of  hatred  by  the  rebels,  was  absent  in  the 
north  of  England,  but  they  burned  his  splendid  palace  of  the 
Savoy,  together  with  the  Temple  and  Inns  of  Court,  the  abode  of 
the  lawyers,  against  whom  they  felt  a  strong  grudge.  The  king 
and  his  followers  took  refuge  in  the  Tower.  Around  this  strong¬ 
hold  the  mob  howled,  crying  for  the  blood  of  their  enemies.  At 


last  the  assailants  agreed  to  retire  to  Mile  End,  if  the  king  would 
meet  them  there  on  the  next  day  and  listen  to  their  grievances. 
This  he  readily  promised  to  do,  and  was  as  good  as  his  word,  for, 
the  next  morning,  accompanied  by  only  a  small  retinue,  he  rode 
to  the  place.  He  heard  their  complaints,  agreed  to  their  de¬ 
mands,  and  promised  them  charters  which  would  carry  out  their 
wishes.  “You  shall  never  again,”  he  is  reported  to  have  said, 
“  be  named  or  held  for  serfs.”  * 

While  the  conference  was  going  on  at  Mile  End,  the  insurgents 

1  Among  Ihe  demands  were ;  that  all  customary  services  (feudal)  should  be 
abolished  ;  that  the  rent  for  land  should  be  fourpence  per  acre ;  and  that  trading 
in  fairs  and  markets  should  be  open  and  free  to  all.  At  that  period,  almost  all 
buying  and  selling  in  the  country  was  carried  on  at  fairs  and  markets  held  peri¬ 
odically,  and  tolls  were  levied  on  every  bridge  and  roadway  to  the  fair,  and 
brought  in  a  large  revenue.  At  Winchester  when  the  fair  was  held  nothing  but 
food  was  allowed  to  be  sold  in  the  city. 


154 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


who  had  remained  in  London  broke  into  the  Tower  and  murdered 
Archbishop  Sudbury,  Hales,  the  Treasurer,  and  Legge,  the  col¬ 
lector  of  the  poll  tax,  besides  others. 

172.  Richard  pacifies  the  Rioters.  1381.  —  Richard  met  the 
rioters,  with  Wat  Tyler  at  their  head,  the  next  day  at  Smithfield. 
Here  Tyler  was  struck  down  by  the  Lord  Mayor  and  was  dis¬ 
patched  by  the  king’s  attendants.  Instantly  the  crowd  was  in  an 
uproar,  shouting,  “  Kill  !  Kill !  They  have  slain  our  captain  !  ” 
Richard,  with  a  boldness  and  courage  hardly  to  be  expected, 
rode  among  the  mob,  crying:  “What  need  you,  my  masters? 
I  am  your  captain  and  your  king !  Follow  me  !  ’’  The  mob 
was  pacified,  and  then,  overawed  by  the  royal  troops  who 
soon  came  up,  retired  peaceably  after  receiving  promises  of 
redress.  Thus  ended  the  first  stage  in  the  peasant  revolt  of 
1381.  It  was  the  first  great  struggle  in  England  between  labor 
and  capital. 

173.  Results  of  Peasants’  Revolt.  1381.  —  The  nobles  and 
wealthier  classes  soon  recovered  from  their  surprise  and  the  insur¬ 
rections  were  rigidly  put  down.  When  Parliament  met,  it  revoked 
the  charters  granted  by  the  king,  on  the  ground  that  he  was  too 
young  to  be  responsible  for  them.  The  ringleaders  in  the  revolts 
were  treated  without  mercy,  and,  to  outward  appearance,  the 
laborers  had  gained  little  or  nothing ;  in  fact,  for  a  time,  their 
cause  seemed  lost.  One  effect  of  the  uprising  was  that  the 
wealthier  classes  found  themselves  striving  together  against 
those  whom  they  now  regarded  as  a  common  enemy.  Natural 
causes,  however,  worked  for  the  benefit  of  the  laboring  classes. 
Employers  soon  discovered  that  it  was  for  their  own  advantage 
to  have  contented  workmen,  and  therefore  allowed  privileges 
which,  in  the  course  of  years,  helped  to  put  an  end  to  villeinage 
itself. 

174.  Religious  Conditions.  —  There  was  need  of  reform  in 
religious  as  well  as  in  social  and  political  matters.  While  there 
were  many  self-sacrificing  and  truly  pious  men  among  the  clergy, 


WYCLIFFE 


155 


such  as  described  by  Chaucer,'  there  can  be  no  doubt  that,  during 
the  latter  part  of  the  fourteenth  and  the  earlier  part  of  the  fifteenth 
centuries,  the  spiritual  state  of  the  church  was  exceedingly  low. 
Simony,^  luxury  and  worldliness  were  common.  The  people  dis¬ 
trusted  priests  and  looked  upon  them  as  enemies.  The  influence 
of  the  clergy  for  good  was 
also  severely  injured  by  an 
unfortunate  division  in  the 
church  itself,  known  as  the 
Great  Schism,  which  lasted 
thirty-eight  years  and  which 
brought  reproach  upon  the 
church  and  injury  to  true 
Christianity.  (App.  i, 

§  96.) 

175.  Wycliffe.  —  One  of 
the  most  remarkable  men 
of  the  fourteenth  century 
was  John  Wycliffe,  often 
called  the  “  Morning  Star 
of  the  Reformation.”®  In 

him  scholastic^  learning  and  John  Wycliffe 

modern  ideas  were  curb  After  an  old  print 


1  A  bettrc  preesf,  I  trowe  that  nowher  noon  is. 

He  wayted  after  no  iJompe  and  reverence, 

Ne  maked  him  a  spyced  conscience, 

But  Christes  lore,  and  his  apostles  twelve. 

He  taughte,  and  first  he  folwed  it  himselve. 

—  Prologue,  Canterbury  Talcs.  Skeat’s  Chaucer. 

2 “ Simony  is  the  act  or  practice  of  trafficking  in  sacred  things;  particularly, 
the  buying  or  selling  of  ecclesiastical  preferment.” 

8  He  was  born  in  Yorkshire  about  1320  and  was  educated  at  Oxford.  He  be¬ 
came  Master  of  Balliol  College  about  1370.  He  was  sent  as  an  ambassador  to 
Bruges  in  1374  to  negotiate  regarding  papal  and  royal  claims  to  grant  benefices. 
On  his  return  he  was  presented  with  the  royal  living  of  LutterwortI*,  not  far  from 
Oxford.  Here  he  died  in  1384.  His  name  is  variously  spelled  :  Wycliffe,  Wyclif, 
Wic.kliffe,  Wicklif,  Wiclif. 

^  Scholastic, -a.  term  used  to  describe  a  needlessly  minute  division  of  a  subject;  a 
method  much  used  in  the  Middle  Ages. 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


156 

ously  combined.  His  character  was  pure,  and  he  seems  to  have 
had  an  attractive  personality.  He  had  early  denied  the  claims 
of  the  Popes  to  draw  funds  from  England.  His  great  doctrine 
was  that  all  possessions  were  held  directly  from  God,  and  that 
failure  to  obey  God  forfeited  one’s  right  to  these  worldly  posses¬ 
sions.  This  implied  the  teaching  that  kings  held  their  realms  by 
divine  right.  It  may  have  been  this  latter  doctrine  which  ex¬ 
plains  how  it  was  that  John  of  Gaunt  supported  Wycliffe,  and  how 
it  was  that  Wycliffe  became  a  follower  of  John  of  Gaunt ;  though 
it  is  difficult  to  understand  how  a  man  like  Wycliffe  could  have 
identified  himself  with  the  cause  of  Lancaster. 

176.  Teachings  of  Wycliffe;  His  English  Bible.  1378. — 
Wycliffe  believed  that  the  abuses  in  the  church  were  largely  due 
to  the  connection  between  the  church  and  the  state,  and  therefore 
urged  the  clergy  to  confine  themselves  to  spiritual  duties  and 
leave  secular  matters  alone.  He  attacked  the  Friars,  who  had,  in 
the  course  of  years,  lost  much  of  their  original  simplicity,  and 
who,  though  individually  poor,  belonged  to  rich  and  powerful 
orders.  He  believed  in  poverty,  tliough  not  in  asceticism,  and  he 
urged  the  priests  to  a  life  of  active  benevolence.  He  encouraged, 
if  he  did  not  himself  organize,  bands  of  preachers  who  went  about 
the  country  preaching  in  the  English  language  and  addressing 
themselves  especially  to  the  lower  classes.  These  men  were  called 
“poor  priests.”  They  lived  upon  frugal  fare,  and  by  their  sim¬ 
plicity  and  earnestness  did  a  vast  amount  of  good. 

Wycliffe,  moreover,  attacked  church  doctrines  which  had  been 
generally  accepted.  He  laid  great  stress  on  the  Bible  as  the 
ground  of  faith,  and,  probably  with  the  help  of  some  of  his  friends, 
translated  it  into  English.^  Heretofore  the  Latin  Bible  had  been 

1  Parts  of  the  Bible  had  already  been  translated  into  English  and  into  French, 
but  these  manuscripts  were  rare.  Copies  of  the  whole  volume  and  of  parts  were 
now  made  especially  for  circulation  among  the  people.  The  fact  that  there  are  still 
in  existence  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  copies  more  or  less  complete  indicates  that 
a  large  number  must  have  been  in  circulation.  The  translation  was  made  from  the 
Latin  version  known  as  the  Vulgate,  and  not  from  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  texts,  as 
were  Tyndal’s  and  King  James's  versions,  and  the  Revised  Version  of  1881-1885. 


LOLLARDRY 


157 


the  only  one  available  for  ordinary  use,  and  Latin  was  an  unknown 
language  to  the  mass  of  the  people.  Wyclifife’s  translation  was 
executed  about  1378,  and,  considering  the  great  expense  of  pro¬ 
ducing  manuscripts,  it  had  a  large  circulation.  His  teaching  and 
that  of  his  “  poor  priests  ”  met  a  popular  need,  and  the  effect  of 
the  movement  was  correspondingly  great.  Indeed,  it  was  said  at 
one  time  that  every  other  man  one  met  was  a  Lollard,*  as  a  fol¬ 
lower  of  Wycliffe  was  called. 

177.  Wycliffe’s  Teaching  in  Bohemia.  —  The  movement  re¬ 
ceived  much  support  from  Richard’s  wife,  Anne  of  Bohemia,  who 
embraced  Wycliffe’s  views.  When,  upon  her  early  death  (1394), 
her  followers  returned  to  Bohemia,  they  carried  with  them 
Wycliffe’s  doctrines  and  books.  These  were  one  of  the  sources 
of  the  great  movement  of  John  Hus  in  the  next  century  (App. 
I,  §  98).  Wycliffe  died  in  1384.  At  the  Council  of  Constance 
(1414-1428)  (App.  I,  §  97)  at  which  John  Hus  was  con¬ 
demned  to  be  burned  at  the  stake,  a  decree  was  passed  de¬ 
nouncing  Wycliffe’s  teaching,  and  ordering  that  his  bones  should 
be  exhumed  and  burned  and  cast  into  a  stream.  This  was  done, 
and  the  old  church  historian,  Fuller,  thus  speaks  of  it:  “This 
brook  did  convey  his  ashes  into  the  Severn,  Severn  into  the  nar¬ 
row  sea,  and  that  into  the  wide  ocean.  And  so  the  ashes  of 
Wycliffe  are  the  emblem  of  his  doctrine,  which  is  now  dispersed 
all  the  world  over.’’ 

178.  Suppression  of  Lollardry.  —  Though  the  Lollards  were 
not  accused  of  taking  part  in  the  Peasants’  Revolt,  it  was  natural 
that  the  effort  to  put  down  the  social  uprising  should  suggest  the 
suppression  of  the  Lollards.  As  a  result  Lollardry  became  almost 
confined  to  the  lower  classes  and  the  tradesmen  and  mechanics  of 
the  towns.  Owing  to  the  severity  of  the  laws  against  heresy^  the 
Lollards  kept  very  quiet,  but  they  were  far  from  being  crushed 

1  The  origin  of  the  name  given  to  Wycliffe’s  followers  is  uncertain.  It  seems  to 
have  come  from  Germany,  where  it  was  applied  to  those  who  "  mumbled  ”  church 
music.  Others  think  it  means  "  babblers,”  and  others  “  heretics." 

^  For  the  medieval  feeling  in  regard  to  heresy  see  App.  i,  §  76. 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


158 

out.  During  the  reign  of  Henry  VII  (1485-1509)  the  increasing 
number  of  men  burnt  for  Lollardry  indicates  the  prevalence  of 
its  teachings,  and  there  can  be  no  question  that  Lollardry  was  a 
powerful  though  quiet  influence  until  the  middle  of  the  reign  of 
Henry  VHI  (§  189). 

179.  Richard  and  the  Nobles ;  Lords  Appellant ;  “  Merciless 
Parliament.”  1386.  —  The  reign  of  Richard  1 1  was  a  period  of 
strife  between  the  nobles  and  the  king  for  control.  The  action  of 
the  young  king  at  the  time  of  the  attack  of  the  mob  on  London 
had  shown  that  he  was  by  no  means  a  man  who  could  be  easily 
led,  and  had  revealed  unexpected  strength  of  character.  After 
the  Peasants’  Revolt,  Richard,  to  a  considerable  degree,  acted 
independently  of  the  council  by  which  the  realm  was  supposed 
to  be  governed.  He  soon  began  to  gather  around  him  favor¬ 
ites  who  counseled  him  to  assume  that  position  of  independence 
and  high  prerogative  to  which  his  natural  disposition  inclined 
him. 

The  war  with  France  continued  with  ill  success,  and  the  French, 
in  1386,  threatened  an  invasion.  The  men  whom  Richard  had 
raised  to  a  high  place  were  disliked  by  the  country;  and  when 
Parliament  demanded  their  removal,  Richard  replied  that  he  would 
not  dismiss  a  scullion  from  his  kitchen  at  such  a  request.  Times 
had  changed,  however,  and  it  was  too  late  for  an  English  king  to 
take  such  a  position.  An  unacceptable  minister  was  impeached, 
fined,  and  imprisoned,  and  a  Commission  was  chosen  to  rule  the 
country. 

Richard  released  his  minister  as  soon  as  Parliament  adjourned. 
Hearing  that  Richard  was  about  to  maintain  his  position  by  force, 
the  leaders  of  the  opposition  appeared  with  an  army  of  40,000 
men  and  e.flectually  put  an  end  to  the  king’s  plans.  The  five 
lords  who  headed  this  movement  were  called  the  Lords  Appellant 
because  they  appealed  or  accused  of  treason  Richard’s  councilors. 
A  Parliament,  known  as  the  “Merciless  Parliament,”  met  in  1388 
and  finished  the  w’ork  of  the  five  Lords  Appellant. 


RICHARD  II  AN  ABSOLUTE  MONARCH 


159 


180.  Richard  II  takes  the  Government  into  his  Own  Hands. 
1389.  —  Richard  had  submitted,  it  is  true,  but  the  rule  of  the 
nobles  was  not  agreeable  to  the  country ;  if  the  choice  was  be¬ 
tween  selfish  nobles  and  a  selfish  king,  the  people  preferred  the 
latter.  Without  any  warning 
of  his  intention,  Richard,  in 
1389,  asked  his  uncle  before 
the  whole  council  of  re¬ 
gents,  how  old  he  was. 

“Your  Highness,”  replied 
the  Duke  of  Gloucester,  “  is 
in  your  twenty-second  year.” 

“  Then,”  said  Richard,  “  I 
must  be  old  enough  to  man¬ 
age  my  own  affairs,  as  every 
heir  is  at  liberty  to  do  when 
he  is  twenty-one.”  Richard 
dismissed  the  council,  and 
from  that  time  began  to  rule 
alone.  For  the  next  eight 
years  he  ruled  as  a  constitu¬ 
tional  monarch,  and  the 

kingdom  was  well  adminis-  engraving  based  on  the  original 

tered.  In  I  roj,  his  wife  Westminster  Abbey.  Probably  the  oldest 

’  authentic  portrait  in  England 

Anne  of  Bohemia,  died 

without  children.  The  same  year  Richard  concluded  a  truce 
with  France  and  Scotland  for  four  years. 

181.  Richard  an  Absolute  Monarch.  i397-i399.  —  In  1396 
Richard  entered  upon  negotiations  which  resulted  in  his  marriage 
with  Isabella,  the  eight-year-old  daughter  of  the  French  king, 
when  a  further  truce  for  twenty-eight  years  was  agreed  upon. 
From  this  time  his  character  seems  to  have  changed.  He 
became  suspicious,  and  began  a  career  of  absolutism  and  un¬ 
constitutional  acts.  Intimidated  by  a  body  of  Cheshire  archers. 


i6o 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


the  Parliament  of  Shrewsbury  (1398)  granted  subsidies  to  the 
king  for  life,  and  the  authority  of  Parliament  itself  was  delegated 


Descendants  of  Edward  III,  showing  Claims  of  Lancaster  and  York 


Edward  III 

1327-1377 

=  Philippa  ot  Hainault 


Edward,  “  Black  Lionel 
Prince  "  Duke  of 

d.  1376  Clarence 

=  loan  of  Kent  =  Elizabeth 
Richard  II 
1377-1399  (deposed) 


T 


T 


(I) 


John  of  Gaunt  Thomas 
Duke  of  Duke  of 
Lancaster  Gloucester 
=  (i)  Blanche 

(2)  Constance 

(3)  Katharine  Swynford 


William 


Philippa 

=  Edmund  Mortimer 
Earl  of  March 


Henry  IV 

1399-1413 
=  Mary  Bohun 


I 

Henry 

Beaufort 


Edmund 
Duke  of 
York 

I 

Richard 

E.  of  Cambridge 
=  Anne  dau.  Earl 
of  March 


John 
Beaufort 
E.  of  Somerset 


I 

Richard 
D.  of  York 


Earl  of  March 


_ I _  Henry  V  John 

I  I  1413-1422  D.  of  Bedford 

Edmund  Anne  =  Katharine  d.  1410 

E.  of  March  =  Richard  of  France 
d.  1484  Elar!  of  | 

Cambridge  HENRY  VI 
I  I422-*I46i  (deposed),  d.  1471 

Richard,  D.  of  York  =  Margaret  of  Ajou 

=  Cicely  Neville  | 

I  Edward,  d.  1471 


Humphrey 
Duke  of 
Gloucester 


Thomas 
Duke  of 
Clarence 


Edward  IV  Edmund  George 
1461-1483  D.  of  Clarence 

=  Elizabeth  Woodville 


Richard  HI 
1483-1475 
=  Anne  Neville 


Margaret 

=  Charles  the  Bold 
D.  of  Burgundy 


Edward  V  Richard  Elizabeth  Catharine 

d.  1483  d.  1483  =  Henry  VII  =  Edward 

1485-1509  Courtenay 

Henry  VIII  Henry  Courtenay 

1509-1549  Marquis  of  Exeter 

Charles  VI  of  France  d.  1538 


Mary 

=  Maximilian 

I 

Philip 

=  Joanna  dau. 
Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  of  Spain 

I 

Charles  V 


Katharine 

=  (1)  Henry  V  of  England 
(2)  Owen  Tudor 

I 

(2)  Edmund  Tudor 
=  Lady  Margaret  Beaufort 

I 

Henry  VII 


I -  Philip  II 

John  Beaufort 
D.  of  Somerset 
d.  1444 

Lady  Margaret  Beaufort 
=  Edmund  Tudor,  E.  of  Richmond 


Henry  (Tudor)  VII 
1485-1509 


RICHARD  DEPOSED 


l6l 


to  a  small  committee  of  eighteen  lords,  two  bishops,  and  six 
members  of  the  House  of  Commons.  This  made  the  king  prac¬ 
tically  an  absolute  monarch. 

It  was  impossible  that  such  a  change  should  be  made  without 
challenge.  The  party  of  opposition  found  its  leader  in  Henry 
Bolingbroke,  Earl  of  Derby,  son  of  John  of  Gaunt.  On  the  death 
of  John  of  Gaunt  (1399),  Richard  had  seized  his  lands,  Henry 
having  been  banished  without  apparent  cause,  the  year  previous. 
Henry  was  bitter  against  Richard,  and  well  fitted  to  lead  the 
opposing  forces.  The  king,  meanwhile,  had  organized  an  expedi¬ 
tion  against  the  Irish,  who  were  invading  the  lands  within  the  Pale 
(§  168).  Henry  landed  in  Yorkshire  in  July,  1399,  first  pro¬ 
claiming  that  he  came  to  recover  his  family  estates  which  had 
been  illegally  taken  from  him ;  then  that  he  had  come  to  redress 
the  wrongs  of  the  nation.  The  rebellious  commoners  hailed  him 
as  their  deliverer ;  one  powerful  noble  after  another  joined  him, 
and  the  Duke  of  York,  whom  Richard  had  left  as  regent,  deserted 
the  royal  cause  and  went  over  to  Henry. 

182.  Richard  Deposed;  His  Death.  1400.  —  When  Richard 
heard  what  had  taken  place,  he  strove  to  raise  forces  to  resist  the 
rebellion,  but  the  greater  part  of  his  army  disappeared  in  a  single 
day,  and  at  last  he  found  himself  almost  alone  in  Conway 
castle,  Wales.  He  was  persuaded  to  meet  Henry  for  confer¬ 
ence  at  Flint,  where  he  was  surrounded  and  betrayed  into  the 
hands  of  his  enemy.  He  was  taken  to  London,  confined  in 
the  Tower,  and  compelled  to  sign  his  abdication.  When  Parlia¬ 
ment  came  together,  the  Act  of  Deposition  with  its  twenty-three 
reasons  was  read,  and  the  throne  declared  vacant.  Henry  now 
came  forward,  and  in  a  speech  delivered  in  English,  claimed  the 
crown  by  virtue  of  being  a  descendant  of  Henry  HI.'  No  dis- 

1  Henry’s  claim  to  the  throne  had  little  to  support  it.  He  was  descended  on 
his  mother’s  side  from  Edmund,  the  younger  son  of  Henry  HI.  A  lad,  Edmund 
Mortimer,  Earl  of  March,  who  was  descended  from  Lionel,  younger  son  of 
Edward  HI  (see  Genealogy,  p.  i6o),  was  the  legal  heir,  and  Richard,  who  was  child¬ 
less,  had  so  recognized  him.  As  has  been  well  said:  "The  real  importance  .  .  . 


t62 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


senting  voice  was  heard,  and  Henry  of  Lancaster  became 
Henry  IV  of  England,  and  Richard  was  imprisoned  in  Pontefract 
Castle,  Yorkshire.  The  change  was  the  work  of  the  nobles,  and 
the  people  had  but  little  hand  in  it.  Like  the  Revolution  of  1688, 
it  was  almost  a  “  bloodless  revolution,  for  three  of  Richard’s  coun¬ 
cilors  were  the  only  lives  sacrificed.” 

Richard’s  character  is  a  difficult  one  to  understand.  It  is  hard 
to  believe  that  his  constitutional  rule  for  eight  years  was  all  a 
pretense  for  the  sake  of  gaining  a  position  which  would  enable 
him  to  seize  absolute  power.  It  is  possible  that  his  mind  became 
affected,  and  that  this  led  to  his  change  of  conduct ;  at  the  same 
time  it  must  be  confessed  that  all  his  life  he  was  subject  to  great 
fluctuations  of  character.  A  conspiracy  against  Henry  in  favor  of 
Richard  took  place  early  in  1400,  but  it  was  suppressed.  Soon 
afterwards  it  was  learned  that  Richard  was  dead.^  To  disprove 
ugly  rumors  against  himself,  Henry  exhibited  Richard’s  body,  but 
as  only  the  face  was  shown,  it  proved  nothing.  It  is  still  believed 
that  the  unfortunate  prisoner  met  his  death  by  Henry’s  orders. 
Henry  was  also  careful  to  keep  the  young  Earl  of  March,  the 
hereditary  heir  to  the  throne,  in  confinement  during  the  whole 
reign.  The  young  heir  to  the  Scottish  throne.  Prince  James,  who 
had  fallen  into  English  hands,  was  also  imprisoned,  and  was  not 
released  for  about  nineteen  years  (§  185). 

References. — Green,  Short  History,  chap,  v,  §§  1-5;  Gardiner,  Student's 
History,  chaps,  xvii,  xviii  ;  Terry,  History,  Part  III,  Book  I,  chaps,  iv-v  ; 
Tout,  Advanced  History,  Book  III,  chap,  iv,  §§  19-28  ;  Traill,  Social  Eng¬ 
land,''^  cA.Yi,  chap,  vi  (in  part);  Adams  and  Stephens,  Select  Documents, 
§§  79“t05  ;  Cheyney,  Headings,  chap,  x,  §§  v-vii  ;  chap,  xi,  §  i  ;  Colby, 
Selections,  §§  41-43  ;  Kendall,  Source-Book,  §§  34-35  ;  Lee,  Source-Book, 
chap,  xiii,  §§  96-98. 

lay  not  in  what  Henry  said,  but  in  what  he  avoided  saying.  It  was  a  reversion  to 
the  old  right  of  election  and  to  the  precedent  set  in  the  deposition  of  Edward  II.” 

1  Henry  gave  out  that  Richard  had  voluntarily  starved  himself  to  death  in  Ponte¬ 
fract  Castle,  his  place  of  confinement ;  but  few  believed  this. 


CHAPTER  XIII 


HUNDRED  YEARS’  WAR  {Concluded).  WARS  OF  THE 
ROSES.  SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  CHANGES 

183.  Henry  IV  (of  Lancaster).  1399.  —  Henry  of  Lancaster 
was  king  by  virtue  of  the  authority  of  a  Parliament  controlled  by 
the  more  conservative  and  aristocratic  party  of  the  baronage,  and 
he  knew  that  the  only  way  he  could  maintain  himself  on  the 
throne  was  by  submission  to  the  wishes  of  Parliament.  The  same 
is  tnie  of  all  monarchs  of  the  Lancastrian  house.  They  were 
kings  by  sufferance,  not  by  divine  right.  Henry  laid  down  as  his 
policy  strict  obedience  to  law,  regard  for  Parliament,  and  alliance 
with  the  church  and  with  the  nobility.  We  see  him,  then,  en¬ 
deavoring  to  suppress  the  Lollards  (§§  176-178),  upholding  the 
temporal  power  of  the  clergy,  and,  in  general,  opposing  the  move¬ 
ments  which  led  toward  greater  freedom  for  the  lower  classes. 
He  was  a  shrewd  man  and  possessed  considerable  political  in¬ 
sight  ;  he  was  temperate  in  his  habits,  religious  in  disposition,  and 
though  not  naturally  vindictive,  he  could  on  occasion  use  stern 
measures  to  make  his  word  respected.  He  had  declared  himself 
in  favor  of  vigorous  reforms,  and  this,  together  with  the  fact  that 
the  nearest  heir  by  hereditary  descent  was  a  child  (§  182,  note), 
made  the  country  willing  to  accept  him.  It  was  recognized  that 
a  strong  king  was  needed,  and  the  country  was  tired  of  govern¬ 
ment  by  councils  or  regents.  Notwithstanding  this,  during  his 
reign  of  fourteen  years  Henry  had  his  full  share  of  conspiracies 
and  invasions  of  greater  or  less  importance. 

184.  Rebellions;  The  Percys;  Owen  Glendower.  1403.  —  A 
truce  with  Scotland  expired  in  1399  and  the  Scots  assumed  a 
hostile  attitude.  As  it  was  needful  to  prevent  them  from  forming 

163 


164 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


an  active  alliance  with  France,  Henry  invaded  Scotland,  getting 
as  far  as  Edinburgh.  He  was,  however,  compelled  to  leave  in 
order  to  hurry  to  Wales,  where  a  rebellion  to  establish  the  inde¬ 
pendence  of  that  country  had  broken  out  under  Owen  Glendower, 
or  Glyndwr,  a  descendant  of  the  old  Welsh  princes.  The  danger 
was  increased  by  the  outbreak  of  a  conspiracy  against  Henry,  in 
which  the  Percys,  who  were  among  the  most  powerful  nobles, 
took  part.  They  had  been  supporters  of  Henry,  but  became 
estranged  from  him,  and  proclaiming  the  Earl  of  March  to  be  the 
rightful  king,  they  joined  Glendower  as  the  best  way  of  securing 
their  ends.  But  in  July,  1403,  the  Percys  and  their  supporters 
were  defeated  at  Shrewsbury,  and  Henry  Percy,  known  as  “  Hot¬ 
spur,”  was  slain.  Glendower,  however,  continued  to  hold  out. 
In  1406  a  French  force  landed  at  Milford  Haven,  but  the  French, 
disappointed  at  the  weakness  of  their  Welsh  allies,  returned  to 
France,  and  the  Welsh  uprising  came  to  an  end.  Glendower 
went  into  retirement  and  died  some  years  later  a  free  man. 

Henry  put  down  all  conspiracies,  and  guarded  against  future 
ones  by  executing  the  leaders  without  mercy.^  Among  those  who 
were  thus  executed  was  Archbishop  Scrope  of  York,  whose  death 
showed  clearly  that  Henry  would  stop  at  nothing  to  secure  his 
crown. 

185.  Seizure  of  James  I  of  Scotland,  1406;  His  Captivity. — 
Domestic  troubles  in  France  took  away  fear  of  that  country,  and 
difficulties  with  Scotland  were  averted  through  the  capture  by  an 
English  ship  of  the  young  son  and  heir  of  the  Scottish  king  as  he 
was  going  to  France  (1406  ?),  ostensibly  to  be  educated,  but  really 
to  escape  his  uncle,  who  wished  to  gain  the  Scottish  throne  for 
himself.  Henry  kept  the  boy  as  a  hostage  for  the  good  behavior 
of  the  Scots,  saying  that  the  prince  should  have  been  sent  to  him 
in  the  first  instance,  as  he  could  speak  French  as  well  as  his  brother 
of  France.  Not  long  after  this.  King  Robert  of  Scotland  died, 

J  Conscious  of  the  danger  from  the  hereditary  claims  of  young  Mortimer,  Earl 
of  March,  Henry  imprisoned  him  in  the  Tower. 


HENRY  IV  OF  LANCASTER 


165 

and  the  boy  became  James  I ;  but  even  then  Henry  would  not  let 
him  go,  and  for  about  nineteen  years  the  young  man  remained 
in  honorable  confinement  at  Windsor  Castle.  While  there  he  fell 
in  love  with  Lady  Jane  Beaufort,  a  member  of  the  royal  family. 
James  afterwards  married  her,  and  she  became  queen  of  Scotland. 
James  was  one  of  Scotland’s  ablest  rulers.* 


Court  Costumes  in  the  Time  of  Henry  IV 


186.  Henry  and  the  Church;  Heretics.  —  Partly  from  personal 
reasons  and  partly  from  policy,  Henry  supported  the  church. 
The  church  was  active  in  attempting  to  root  out  heresy  of  all 
kinds.  The  ecclesiastical  courts  could  condemn  men  as  heretics, 
but  had  no  power  to  burn  them,  which  was  considered  the  proper 
method  of  punishment.  The  bishops  and  abbots  at  this  time 
formed  a  majority  in  the  House  of  Lords,  but  though  there  was 
in  the  House  of  Commons  a  strong  feeling  against  the  church  on 
account  of  its  wealth,  there  was  little  or  no  sympathy  with  heresy. 

1  James  I  was  no  mean  poet,  and  when  in  captivity  composed  a  long  poem, 
"  The  King’s  Quair  "  ( King’s  Quire  or  Book) .  The  story  of  his  life  is  one  of  the  most 
romantic  in  English  and  Scottish  annals.  His  uncle,  the  Duke  of  Albany,  was 
regent  in  his  absence,  and  because  he  desired  the  throne  for  himself,  he  made 
little  effort  for  the  release  of  his  nephew.  Lady  Jane  Beaufort  was  a  sister  of  John 
Beaufort,  from  whom  Henry  VII  was  descended. 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


1 66 

So  when  a  statute  for  the  burning  of  heretics  (^De  haeretico  co7n- 
burendo')  was  brought  forward,  it  met  with  little  opposition 
(1401).  This  was  the  first  act  of  the  kind  passed  in  England. 
Even  while  it  was  under  consideration  by  Parliament,  a  priest, 
William  Sawtre,  or  Sautre,  convicted  of  heresy  by  the  Convocation 
of  Canterbury,  was  burned  alive  by  the  order  of  the  king.  This 
famous  statute  was  used  against  the  Lollards  and  several  suffered 
under  it. 

187.  Death  of  Henry  IV ;  Henry  V.  1413-1422.  —  In  main¬ 
taining  himself  upon  the  throne,  Henry  had  been  ably  assisted 
by  his  young  son.  Prince  Henry,  who  also  took  his  place  in  the 
Council  and  showed  himself  as  able  there  as  on  the  battlefield, 
but  there  arose  between  him  and  his  father  a  quarrel,  which  had 
not  ceased  at  the  king’s  death.  Henry  IV,  who  had  suffered  much 
from  ill  health,  died  in  1413  and  was  succeeded  without  opposi¬ 
tion  by  his  son,  who  became  Henry  V. 

Henry  V  was  twenty-five  at  the  time  of  his  succession.  He  is 
regarded  as  one  of  the  most  brilliant  and  popular  of  English  mon- 
archs.  “  He  was  temperate,  chaste,  and  frugal,  serious  and  con¬ 
sistent  in  his  devotions,  generous  and  courteous  in  his  dealings 
with  others.”  He  spoke  little,  but  was  well  educated  and  well 
informed.  He  was  the  most  successful  general  of  his  time,  equally 
good  in  strategy  and  in  the  campaign.  His  personal  appearance 
was  comely,  and  he  was  so  swift  of  foot  that  it  was  said  he  could 
run  down  a  deer.  According  to  later  authorities^  his  youth  was 
wild  and  even  dissolute,  but  contemporary  writers  make  no  men¬ 
tion  of  these  reports. 

188.  Henry  and  Parliament.  —  His  first  acts  show  that  he  had 
confidence  in  his  title  to  the  crown,  for  he  liberated  the  Earl  of 
March,  the  legal  heir  (§  182,  note),  and  entered  into  friendly  re¬ 
lations  with  him  ;  he  also  brought  the  remains  of  Richard  H  from 
where  they  had  been  interred  and  placed  them  in  the  grand  tomb 

1  It  is  upon  these  late  accounts  that  Shakespeare  bases  his  stories  of  "  Prince 
Hal  "  in  his  "  King  Henry  IV." 


HENRY  V  AND  PARLIAMENT  1 67 

in  Westminster  Abbey,  which  Richard  had  prepared  for  himself 
and  his  queen  ;  he  ignored  previous  quarrels  among  the  royal 
councilors,  and  placed  in  his  Council  members  of  each  faction. 

Recognizing  the  importance  of  conciliating  Parliament,  he 
granted  the  privilege  that  a  law  once  passed  should  not  in  any  way 
be  changed.  This  was  an  im¬ 
portant  concession,  for  hereto¬ 
fore  the  text  of  the  laws  had 
been  left  to  the  Council  to  frame, 
and  not  infrequently  the  word¬ 
ing  was  so  altered  as  to  defeat 
the  very  purpose  of  the  law. 

Parliament  had  gained  much 
during  the  reign  of  Henry  IV. 

Among  the  privileges  of  mem¬ 
bers  were  these :  that  they 
should  not  be  held  responsible 
for  what  was  said  in  Parliament ; 
that  “  except  for  treason,  felony, 
and  surety  of  the  peace  ”  they 
should  be  free  from  arrest ;  and 
that  petitions  to  the  king  should 
be  speedily  answered.  Already  Parliament  named  the  Royal 
Council,  controlled  taxation,  audited  the  royal  accounts,  and  in¬ 
sisted  that  redress  of  grievances  should  precede  grants  of  money. 
Indeed,  rarely,  if  ever  before,  had  Parliament  so  much  power  and 
royal  recognition  as  during  the  reign  of  Henry  V. 

189.  Henry  and  the  Church;  Lollardry ;  Oldcastle.  —  Henry 
had  no  sympathy  with  heresy,  and  he  determined  to  stamp  it  out. 
The  most  prominent  victim  was  Sir  John  Oldcastle,  Lord  Cobham, 
a  knight  of  the  west  of  England.  Oldcastle  finally  surrendered 
himself.  He  boldly  proclaimed  his  views,  and  refused  to  recant, 
though  Henry  himself,  who  was  under  obligations  to  him  for  his 
support  of  his  father,  begged  him  to  do  so.  Oldcastle  was  then 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


1 68 

handed  over  to  the  secular  authority  to  be  burnt,  but  he  escaped, 
and  organized  a  rebellion  in  defense  of  liberty  of  conscience. 
Unfortunately  the  Lollards  answered  the  call.  There  could  be 
but  one  end.  The  rising  was  promptly  crushed,  and  many  per¬ 
sons  were  put  to  death.  Oldcastle,  after  being  in  hiding  three 
years,  was  captured,  hanged  as  a  traitor,  and  his  body  burned  as 
that  of  a  heretic  (1418).'  Lollardry,  however,  was  not  extin¬ 
guished,  but  its  influence  worked  silently  in  favor  of  freedom  of 
thought.  The  doctrines  were  widespread,  and  convictions  for 
heresy  continued  into  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  The  history  of 
the  Lollards  shows  that  Protestantism  in  England  had  a  gradual 
and  steady  growth,  for  the  Lollards  were  practically  Protestants 
before  Luther. 

190.  Henry  and  France ;  claims  French  Crown.  —  Henry,  doubt¬ 
less  led  by  policy  as  well  as  by  a  strong  desire  for  military  glory, 
turned  his  attention  to  foreign  affairs.  France  at  this  time  was  torn 
by  domestic  factions  and  w’ars,  and  her  king,  Charles  VI,  was  in¬ 
sane.  In  England  there  were  powerful  barons  who,  unless  they 
w’ere  employed  abroad,  might  stir  up  factions  against  Henry ; 
moreover,  such  a  war  was  in  itself  pleasing  to  the  barons.  The 
higher  clergy  also  favored  it  because  it  would  divert  attention  from 
them,  and  besides  all  this,  the  times  were  prosperous  and  the 
people  were  willing  to  support  the  king. 

From  a  modern  point  of  view  Henry’s  action  was  wholly  un¬ 
justifiable.  Beyond  the  ravages  of  some  privateers  from  Nor¬ 
mandy  during  the  reign  of  Henry  IV,  there  was  not  even  a  plau¬ 
sible  pretext  for  war,  and  Henry  seems  to  have  really  made  war 
chiefly  for  war’s  sake. 

France,  anxious  to  avoid  a  conflict,  in  vain  offered  Henry  those 
parts  of  Guienne  and  Gascony  which  England  had  lost  since  1375, 
and  also  the  hand  in  marriage  of  Katherine,  daughter  of  the  French 
king,  together  with  a  handsome  dowry.  Henry  laid  claim  to  the 
French  crown  and  to  all  the  territory  which  England  had  ever 
1  See  Tennyson’s  poem,  “  Sir  John  Oldcastle." 


HENRY  V  AND  FRANCE  1 69 

held  in  France,  putting  forward  the  same  reasons  which  Edward 
III  had  used  (§  150).' 

191.  Henry  invades  France;  Agincourt.  1415.  —  Henry  ac¬ 
cordingly  set  out  on  his  expedition  in  1415,  taking  with  him  a 
small  but  well-equipped  army.  He  landed  near  Harfleuron  the  Seine, 
which  town  he  took  after  a  siege  of  thirty  days.  He  then  marched 
toward  Calais  to  join  forces  with  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  but  was 
met  by  a  French  force  nearly  four  times  the  size  of  his  own,  near 
the  castle  of  Agincourt,  not  far  from  Calais.  Here,  owing  to 
Henry’s  skill,  to  the  lack  of  French  discipline,  and  to  the  unac¬ 
countable  blunders  of  the  French  general,  he  won  a  great  victory 
(October  25,  1415),  one  to  be  placed  beside  Cr^cy  and  Poitiers. 
Agincourt,  however,  brought  little  real  advantage  to  Henry  except 
in  the  way  of  renown  and  popularity  at  home.  He  returned  to 
England  in  November,  and  was  received  with  enthusiasm.  Parlia¬ 
ment  making  him  grants  of  revenue  for  life. 

192.  Conquers  Normandy,  1417;  Treaty  of  Troyes,  1420; 
Heir  to  French  Crown.  — Affairs  in  France  were  at  their  worst  in 
1417,  and  Henry,  seizing  the  opportunity,  landed  in  Normandy 
with  twenty-five  thousand  troops.  After  a  few  towns  had  been 
taken,  he  forbade  all  pillage  and  announced  that  his  purpose  was  to 
save  the  land  from  anarchy  and  to  introduce  order  and  just  rule. 
In  less  than  two  years  all  Normandy  fell  into  his  hands.  This 
would  not  have  been  possible  had  France  been  free  from  domestic 
factions.  But  this  division  of  forces  led  to  the  Treaty  of  Troyes 
(May  21,  1420),  by  which  the  Dauphin  (the  heir  to  the  French 
crown)  was  disinherited  and  Henry  was  recognized  as  the  heir  of 
Charles  VI,  the  insane  king.  Henry,  moreover,  was  to  marry 
Katherine,  the  king’s  daughter,  and  be  regent  of  France  until  her 
father’s  death.  The  English  king  had  apparently  gained  all  he 
wished  ;  but  nations  cannot  always  be  transferred  by  the  agree¬ 
ment  of  their  rulers. 

1  The  claim  to  the  crown  was  almost  absurd,  for  if  there  was  any  claim  whatever, 
it  belonged  to  the  Earl  of  March,  who  was  the  hereditary  heir  of  Edward  III. 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


I  70 

193.  Henry  and  France;  Death  of  Henry.  1422.  — The  Eng¬ 
lish  were  hated  by  the  French ;  and  though  the  leaders  had 
accepted  Henry,  because  for  the  time  it  seemed  the  best  policy, 
they  were  in  no  sense  loyal  to  him,  and,  in  fact,  Henry  never  con¬ 
trolled  the  greater  part  of  France.  Not  long  after  the  treaty, 
Henry  went  to  England,  taking  his  bride,  Katherine,  with  him. 
He  left  his  brother,  the  Duke  of  Clarence,  to  look  after  his 
interests  in  France,  but  the  duke  lacked  skill  and  judgment. 
Henry  was  forced  to  return.  He  was  successful  in  quieting 
France,  but,  stricken  with  disease,  he  died  (1422)  at  the  early 
age  of  thirty-five.  Within  a  few  weeks  Charles  VI  also  died, 
and  thus  the  infant  son  of  Henry,  not  yet  a  year  old,  was  made 
king  of  England,  as  Henry  VI,  and,  by  the  Treaty  of  Troyes,  of 
France  also. 

194.  Henry’s  Will;  The  Regency,  1422  ;  Bedford  in  France. — 
Henry  in  his  will  appointed  regents  for  England  and  France,  but 
the  English  Privy  Council  held  that  Henry’s  will  was  not  binding, 
and  authorized  the  calling  of  a  Parliament.  This  Parliament  set 
aside  as  invalid  Henry’s  provision  for  regents,  and  appointed  John, 
Duke  of  Bedford,  Protector  of  the  Realm,  and  Humphrey,  Duke 
of  Gloucester,  to  act  in  Bedford’s  absence.^  As  a  matter  of  fact 
the  Council  itself,  many  of  whose  members  were  appointed  by 
Parliament,  held  the  regency,  and  Bedford  and  Gloucester  had 
little  real  power. 

By  T428  Bedford  had  made  himself  master  of  almost  all  France 
north  of  the  Loire,  except  the  strong  and  important  city  of  Orleans  ; 
it  was  plain  that  if  he  could  take  it,  the  chances  would  be  favorable 
for  overcoming  the  French  heir  known  as  Charles  VH.^  Bed¬ 
ford’s  forces,  accordingly,  laid  siege  to  Orleans.  That  they  were 
not  successful  is  due  to  one  of  the  most  romantic  and  pathetic 
incidents  in  history. 

1  Both  were  brothers  of  Henry,  though  very  different  in  character,  Gloucester’s 
character  being  as  bad  as  Bedford's  was  good. 

2  He  was  a  son  of  Charles  VI  of  France. 


JOAN  OF  ARC 


17I 

195.  Joan  of  Arc.  1429.  —  Just  when  the  fall  of  Orleans 
seemed  certain  and  the  cause  of  Charles  VII  was  at  its  lowest 
ebb,  a  great  change  took  place  in  the  fortunes  of  France.  There 
was  in  Domr^my,  a  little  village  in  eastern  France,  a  country  girl 
of  sixteen,  who  has  since  been  known  as  Joan  of  Arc,  or  in 


Joan  of  Arc  at  the  Head  of  her  Troops 

French,  Jeanne  d’Arc.  She  was  peasant-born,  but  the  horrors  of 
the  conflict,  and  the  woes  of  her  unhappy  country  dwelt  upon  her 
mind  till  her  heart  was  full  of  pity  for  the  king,  whom,  in  her 
imagination,  she  clothed  with  every  virtue.  She  came  to  believe 
that  St.  Michael,  St.  Catherine,  and  St.  Margaret  bade  her  go 
forth  to  save  the  king  and  to  conduct  him  to  Rheims  to  be 
anointed  with  the  holy  oil  and  crowned.  At  last,  in  1429,  clothed 
in  man’s  armor,  she  rode  to  Chinon,  where  the  king  was,  and 
having  with  great  difficulty  gained  an  audience  with  him,  con¬ 
vinced  him  that  her  mission  was  divine.  Officers  and  churchmen 
alike  regarded  her  with  suspicion,  but  her  evident  piety,  her 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


I  72 

simplicity,  her  faith  in  her  mission,  and  the  dismal  condition  of 
the  king’s  cause  made  them  give  way,  and  she  was  allowed  to  ac¬ 
company  an  army  sent  for  the  relief  of  Orleans.  She  gained  the 
city  without  difficulty  and  inspired  the  garrison  with  such  courage 
that  the  English  were  driven  away  and  the  siege  raised.  From 
that  time  she  bore  the  name  of  the  Maid  of  Orleans.  The 
French  followed  up  their  successes  under  the  leadership  of  Joan, 
until  she  saw  Charles  crowned  king  at  Rheims  (1429). 

196.  Joan  of  Arc  Captured  ;  Sold  to  English  ;  Burned.  1430- 

1431.  —  The  mission  of  Joan  of  Arc  was  now  accomplished  and 
she  wished  to  return  home,  but  she  was  persuaded  to  stay  with  the 
army.  She  urged  an  immediate  attack  on  Paris,  but  delays  were 
made,  the  affair  was  badly  managed,  and  the  Maid  was  wounded. 
The  soldiers  became  jealous  of  her,  and  she  no  longer  had  the 
power  she  once  possessed.  Philip  of  Burgundy,  in  a  skirmish 
captured  the  Maid  (1430),  and  sold  her  to  the  English  for  ten 
thousand  crowns.  Charles,  for  whom  she  had  done  so  much,  made 
no  effort  to  save  her.  She  was  imprisoned  for  about  a  year,  and 
then  was  tried  by  an  ecclesiastical  court  as  a  heretic  and  sorceress. 
In  spite  of  a  noble  defense,  she  was  condemned  to  be  burned. 
This  sentence,  to  the  disgrace  of  the  English,  of  Charles  VII,  and 
of  the  French  churchmen  who  condemned  her,  was  carried  out 
at  Rouen,  May  30,  1431.  “  At  the  stake  she  behaved  with  heroic 

simplicity.  When  the  flames  curled  round  her,  she  called  upon 
the  saints  who  had  befriended  her.  Her  last  utterance  was  a 
cry  of  ‘Jesus.’  An  Englishman  who  had  come  to  triumph  hung 
his  head  for  shame.  ‘  We  are  lost,’  he  said,  ‘  we  have  burned  a 
saint.’  ”  ‘ 

197.  Loss  of  France;  End  of  Hundred  Years’  War.  1453. — 
The  disgraceful  treatment  of  Joan  of  Arc  did  not  help  the  English 
cause.  Though  no  longer  present  to  inspire  them,  she  had  taught 

1  In  that  superstitious  age  it  was  not  strange  that  her  successes  were  supposed 
to  be  due  to  witchcraft;  and  this  belief  was  confirmed,  according  to  their  ideas,  by 
her  own  statements  that  she  had  heard  voices  urging  her  to  save  France. 


END  OF  THE  HUNDRED  YEARS’  WAR 


173 


the  French  the  possibility  of  united  action  and  had  encouraged 
them  by  her  victories,  and  in  spite  of  Bedford’s  efforts,  the  English 
gradually  lost  ground.  In  the  latter  part  of  1431  the  English 
boy  king,  Henry  VI,  was  brought  to  Paris  and  crowned  king  of 
France  in  the  cathedral  of  Notre  Dame,  but  Bedford  did  not  dare 
to  keep  him  in  France.  As  the  English  control  weakened,  it  was 
difficult  to  get  Parliament  to  make  grants  of  funds  to  carry  on  the 
war  or  to  support  the  English  rule  in  France.  In  1435  Bedford 
died.  Effort  after  effort  was  made  to  redeem  the  failing  fortunes 
of  the  English.  Burgundy  deserted  them  in  1435  >  later,  Paris  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  French  ;  by  1450  all  that  Henry  V  had 
gained  was  lost,  and  in  a  few  years  more  (1453)  all  the  French 
territories  that  remained  to  England  were  the  Channel  Islands 
and  Calais.  The  Hundred  Years’  War  with  its  record  of  victory 
and  defeat,  of  glory  and  shame,  was  at  last  ended. 

The  war  had  brought  both  upon  England  and  France  untold  suf¬ 
fering,  widespread  destruction  of  property  of  all  kinds,  and  terrible 
loss  of  life.  Even  on  the  grounds  of  expediency,  there  had  been 
little  or  nothing  to  justify  the  war  in  the  beginning,  and  there  had 
been  still  less  to  excuse  its  continuance.  While  it  cannot  be 
denied  that  some  benefits  resulted  from  the  prolonged  conflict,  it  is 
scarcely  possible  not  to  believe  that  progress  and  civilization  were 
greatly  checked,  and  what  was  won  by  blood  might  have  been 
more  easily  and  better  gained  by  the  apparently  slower  develop¬ 
ment  which  belongs  to  times  of  peace.^  (App.  i,  §  93.) 

198.  Henry  VI.  1422.  —  The  history  of  political  events  in 
England  for  a  number  of  years  after  the  death  of  Henry  V  is  little 
more  than  a  record  of  petty  quarrels  between  the  nobles  who  wished 
to  control  the  government  during  the  long  minority  of  Henry  VI. 

Henry  VI  grew  up  to  be  a  pious,  excellent  man,  who  was 
wholly  out  of  place  as  a  king.  He  came  of  age  in  1442,  and 

1  Though  no  formal  treaty  of  peace  was  signed,  the  war  was  over.  The  English 
kings  continued  to  call  themselves  kings  of  France  until  the  Act  of  Union  in  i8oi 
(§§  S9°i  591)1  when  the  meaningless  title  was  silently  dropped. 


174 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


through  the  influence  of  the  Earl  of  Suffolk  was  married  (1445)  to 
Margaret,  daughter  of  Ren^,  Duke  of  Anjou.  It  was  a  most 
unfortunate  marriage  for  the  House  of  Lancaster,  for  her  ill-advised 
council  and  behavior  helped  greatly  in  bringing  ruin  on  her 
husband’s  cause. 

199.  Land  Enclosures  ;  Retainers.  —  The  labor  troubles,  which 
led  to  the  Peasant  Rebellion  in  1381,  had  by  no  means  settled  the 
economic  question.  It  is  true  that  villeinage  had  almost  died  out. 
The  large  landholders  very  commonly  let  their  land  to  tenants  who 
paid  money  rent  for  it,  but  this  practice  was  not  very  profitable, 
and  gradually  it  became  common  to  inclose  land  and  give  it  up  to 
pasturage.  This  system  commended  itself  to  the  landlord,  for  it 
required  fewer  men  to  care  for  flocks  and  herds  than  to  cultivate 
fields.  On  the  other  hand,  many  men  were  thrown  out  of  employ¬ 
ment,  and  the  enclosure  of  what  had  been  common  land  fell 
heavily  on  the  tenants,  as  it  deprived  them  of  land  that  they  had 
formerly  used.  The  great  nobles  gathered  many  of  those  thrown 
out  of  work  into  bands  of  retainers,  forming,  in  fact,  petty  armies. 

The  conclusion  of  the  war  in  France  brought  back  numbers  of 
soldiers  used  to  the  rough  campaign  life  of  that  day  and  accus¬ 
tomed  to  acts  of  pillage  and  ruffianism.  These  also  found  employ¬ 
ment  with  the  rich  nobles,  thus  swelling  the  bands  of  retainers. 
The  country,  therefore,  was  in  a  condition  to  invite  disorder, 
with  a  weak  central  government,  powerful  nobles  at  the  head  of 
armed  bands,  a  discontented  people,  and  justice  almost  unobtain¬ 
able.  The  evil  of  the  system  of  retainers  was  clearly  seen  and 
Parliament  passed  several  acts  designed  to  lessen  the  dangers  of 
“  livery  and  maintenance,”  as  the  keeping  of  these  bands  of  retain¬ 
ers  was  called ;  but  with  the  inefficient  government  existing,  it 
was  impossible  to  enforce  the  laws.  The  election  of  members  of 
Parliament  was  often  a  farce,  as  it  was  wholly  under  the  control  of 
the  local  sheriff  or  nobleman. 

200.  Jack  Cade’s  Rebellion.  1450. — The  discontent  of  the 
people  was  shown  in  what  is  known  as  Jack  Cade’s  Rebellion. 


JACK  CADE’S  REBELLION 


175 


This  movement,  though  primarily  of  the  lower  classes,  was  sup¬ 
ported  by  men  from  all  ranks.  There  was  a  strong  feeling  against 
the  government  then  in  power  under  the  leadership  of  the  Duke 
of  Suffolk.! 

Richard,  Duke  of  York,  the  next  heir  to  the  throne,^  had  been 
careful  not  to  be  identified  with  the  Cade  Rebellion,  though  he 
was  quite  willing  to  gain  any 
advantage  from  it.  For  reasons 
of  his  own  he  had  espoused  the 
popular  cause. 

The  rebellion  began  in  Kent, 
probably  because  there  the  mis- 
government  was  strongly  felt  and 
the  loss  of  France  had  greatly 
injured  the  trade  and  manufac¬ 
tures  which  had  flourished  in 
that  part  of  the  country. 

Jack  Cade  was  an  Irish  ad¬ 
venturer  who  claimed  that  he  was 
a  son  of  the  late  Earl  of  March. 

He  advanced  toward  London  at 
the  head  of  thirty  thousand  men. 

They  demanded,  first,  the  re¬ 
dress  of  grievances,  —  such  as  excessive  taxation,  the  squandering 
of  the  revenues,  the  oppression  of  the  sheriffs,  illegal  elections,  the 
corruption  of  officials,  etc.,  —  and  they  finally  urged  the  restora¬ 
tion  of  the  Duke  of  York  to  power.  This  last  was  practically 
saying  that  the  king  was  unfit  to  rule.  A  detachment  of  the  king’s 
forces  met  them,  but  was  defeated.  Henry  then  agreed  to  dismiss 

1  Suffolk  had  become  so  unpopular  that  he  was  impeached,  convicted,  and 
banished.  On  his  way  to  France,  he  was  seized  and  murdered. 

2  Richard  was  the  son  of  Anne,  who  was  descended  from  Lionel,  third  son  of 
Edward  III.  Richard’s  father  was  descended  from  Edmund,  fifth  son  of  Edward 
HI.  so  that  York  had  a  double  claim  upon  the  throne.  The  House  of  Lancaster 
came  through  John  of  Gaunt,  fourth  son  of  Edward  HI. 


176 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


the  treasurer  and  sheriff  of  Kent,  against  whom  they  had  a 
special  grudge.  London  opened  its  gates  to  the  crowd,  but  when 
the  rebels  began  to  plunder  houses  and  shops,  and  in  spite  of  the 
king’s  dismissal,  murdered  the  royal  treasurer  and  the  sheriff  of 
Kent,  the  Londoners  turned  against  the  insurgents  and  forced  them 
out  of  the  city.  After  a  fight  on  London  Bridge,  the  mob  agreed  to 
retire  on  promise  of  pardon.  Jack  Cade,  who  kept  a  small  force 
with  him,  was  finally  overtaken  and  slain  by  the  new  sheriff  of  Kent. 

201.  Insanity  of  Henry,  1453;  Birth  of  an  Heir,  1453;  Re¬ 
bellion  of  York,  1455;  Wars  of  the  Roses  Begun,  1455.  —  In 
1453  Heniy  VI  became  insane  and  a  regency  was  needful.  In 
the  same  year  Queen  Margaret  gave  birth  to  a  son.  Like  the 
birth  of  a  son  to  James  II  in  1688  (§  468),  it  was  a  most  un¬ 
desirable  occurrence  for  England,  for  it  put  an  end  to  the  Duke 
of  York’s  claim  to  the  throne,  and  made  the  way  easier  for  factions 
to  exist.  York  was  made  the  protector  of  the  kingdom  in  1454, 
but,  unfortunately,  Henry  regained  his  health.  He  was,  however, 
under  the  influence  of  Queen  Margaret,  who  was  determined  to 
drive  York  from  power.  This  she  succeeded  in  doing,  and  York 
now  became  the  enemy  of  the  king  and  resolved  to  regain  his 
position  by  force.  He  collected  an  army  and  gained  several  power¬ 
ful  noblemen  to  his  active  support.  He  marched  south  and  met 
the  royal  force,  under  Somerset,  the  old  favorite  of  the  king,  at 
St.  Albans,  about  twenty  miles  north  of  London.  Here  a  battle 
was  fought  (May  22,  1455),  in  which  the  Yorkists  were  successful, 
and  Somerset  was  slain.  The  king  was  taken  prisoner,  but  the 
conquerors  affirmed  their  loyalty  to  him  and  pretended  to  be  his 
humble  liegemen.  This  battle  is  reckoned  as  the  beginning  of  the  so- 
called  Wars  of  the  Roses,  which  distracted  England  for  thirty  years.^ 

1  The  badge  of  the  Yorkists  was  a  white  rose,  and  that  of  the  Lancastrians  a  red 
rose.  Exactly  how  these  emblems  were  chosen  is  not  certainly  known.  The  red 
rose  of  Lancaster  does  not  seem  to  have  been  adopted  till  after  the  struggle  had 
been  going  on  for  some  time,  while  the  white  rose  appears  to  have  been  an  ancient 
badge  of  the  House  of  York.  The  popular  tradition  is  given  by  Shakespeare  in 
his  "  Henry  VI,”  Part  I,  Act  2,  Scene  4. 


WARS  OF  THE  ROSES 


177 


202.  Peace,  1458;  Renewal  of  Conflict,  1459  i  York’s  Success, 
and  then  Defeat  and  Death,  1460.  —  Henry  pardoned  York 
and  his  companions,  all  of  whom  made  professions  of  loyalty. 
Henry  soon  had  a  return  of  insanity,  and  Parliament  appointed 
York  as  Protector,  the  length  of  his  service  to  be  determined  by 
Parliament  itself.  But  Henry’s  attack  was  short,  and  when  he 
resumed  control,  York  retired.  For  two  years  there  was  reason¬ 
able  quiet,  but  then  hostilities  began  again.  The  Yorkists  were 
unsuccessful,  and  York  fled  to  Ireland.  At  Margaret’s  dictation  a 
partisan  Parliament  of  Coventry  (1459)  passed  an  act  of  attainder 
against  York  and  his  supporters,  the  Earls  of  Salisbury  and  War¬ 
wick,  the  first  instance  of  the  kind  in  English  history.  This  was 
a  serious  blunder,  for  whereas  the  struggle  had  been  for  control 
of  the  government,  now,  on  the  part  of  the  Yorkists,  it  was  for  life 
and  property  and  the  rights  of  their  children  as  well.  It  forced 
them  to  fight.  In  the  same  year  (1459)  the  Yorkist  earls  defeated 
the  royal  army  and  captured  the  king.  York  now  returned  from 
Ireland  and  laid  claim  to  the  throne  on  the  grounds  of  his  birth 
(§  200,  note). 

It  was  a  bold  claim  to  make  after  the  Lancastrians  had  sat  on 
the  throne  for  three  generations.  The  matter  was  debated  in 
Parliament,  which  finally  decided  that  Henry  should  retain  the 
crown  during  his  life,  but  that  York  should  succeed  him.  Henry 
assented  to  this,  but  Queen  Margaret  had  no  intention  of  yielding 
the  right  of  her  son  to  inherit  the  crown,  and  she  refused  to  accede 
to  the  new  arrangement.  She  withdrew  to  the  north,  the  majority 
of  whose  inhabitants  were  favorable  to  the  Lancastrian  cause, 
raised  an  army,  met  the  Yorkists  at  Wakefield,  and  defeated  them 
(Dec.  30,  1460).  In  the  battle  York  himself  was  slain,  and  his 
head  crowned  with  a  paper  crown  was  fastened  over  one  of  the 
gates  of  the  city  of  York. 

203.  Edward,  Earl  of  March,  becomes  Edward  IV.  1461. — 
Richard’s  eldest  son,  Edward,  Earl  of  March,  only  nineteen 
years  old,  now  became  Duke  of  York  and  the  leader  of  the 


178 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


Yorkists.  Two  battles  were  fought,  in  one  of  which  the  Yorkists 
were  victors  and  in  the  other  the  Lancastrians.  The  lawlessness  of 
Margaret’s  followers  and  the  ravages  and  outrages  which  they  com¬ 
mitted  greatly  incensed  the  Londoners.  When  Edward  reached 
London  he  was  welcomed  by  the  citizens,  and,  sure  of  support,  he 
summoned  a  council  of  lords  and  declared  his  right  to  the  Eng¬ 
lish  throne.  The  council  thereupon  deposed  Henry  on  the  grounds 
of  bad  faith  and  incompetency,  and  offered  the  crown  to  Edward. 
He  accepted  it  and  was  proclaimed  king  as  Edward  IV  (1461). 
He  soon  marched  north  to  defend  his  title  and  his  throne.  He 
was  accompanied  by  the  Earl  of  Warwick,  the  craftiest  and  most 
powerful  of  the  English  nobles.  The  Lancastrian  forces  were  met 
at  Towton,  Yorkshire  (March  29,  1461)  and  in  a  battle,  fought  for 
hours  in  a  blinding  snowstorm,  were  routed.  Margaret  and  her 
son  escaped  to  Scotland,  while  Henry  was  taken  prisoner. 

204.  Edward  and  Warwick. — The  principal  supporters  of  the 
Yorkist  cause  were  the  Nevilles,  a  rich  family,  the  head  of  which 
was  the  Earl  of  Warwick.  As  Edward  was  only  about  twenty 
years  old,  Warwick  naturally  expected  to  have  a  controlling  voice 
in  the  affairs  of  the  kingdom.  Edward,  however,  in  1464  secretly 
married  Elizabeth  Grey,  a  widow  belonging  to  the  family  of  the 
Woodvilles,  and  soon  began  to  bestow  political  and  other  favors 
upon  his  wife’s  kindred.  In  various  ways  Edward  showed  that 
he  had  resolved  to  be  his  own  master.  At  last  he  dismissed 
Warwick  (1467)  and  thus  made  him  his  determined  enemy. 

Warwick,  who  had  no  son,  married  one  of  his  daughters  to  the 
Duke  of  Clarence,  a  brother  of  Edward,  and  encouraged  him  to 
think  that  he  might  be  placed  on  Edward’s  throne.  Several  ris¬ 
ings,  probably  stimulated  by  Warwick,  took  place,  but  were  put 
down  by  Edward.  Warwick  fled  to  France,  where  he  became 
reconciled  to  Queen  Margaret  and  made  common  cause  with  her 
against  Edward,  who  was  now  their  common  enemy.  King 
Louis  XI  of  France  supported  the  movement  against  Edward,  who 
by  his  extravagance  and  luxury  had  alienated  many  from  him. 


EDWARD  IV  AND  WARWICK 


179 


An  expedition  against  him  led  by  Warwick  took  him  by  surprise, 
and  he  fled  to  Holland  for  safety  (1470).  Henry  was  again  pro¬ 
claimed  king,  but  the  revolution  was  short-lived.  Edward,  aided 
by  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  returned  to  England,  landed  in  York¬ 
shire,  and,  marching  toward  London,  met  the  Lancastrian  forces 
at  Barnet,  a  few  miles  from  the  city,  where  he  defeated  them 


Warwick  Castle 


(April  14,  1471).  Warwick  and  several  others  of  the  Lancastrian 
nobles  were  slain.^ 

205.  Lancastrian  Defeat  at  Tewkesbury;  Death  of  Henry  VI. 
1471.  —  Edward  was  not  yet  secure,  for  Margaret,  on  the  very 
day  of  the  battle  of  Barnet,  had  landed  in  the  west.  Edward 
hastened  to  meet  her  forces,  and  at  Tewkesbury  (May  4,  1471) 
defeated  her.  Her  son,  now  a  young  man  of  seventeen,  was 
either  slain  in  the  battle,  or  murdered  after  it,-  thus  destroying  all 
her  hopes. 

The  last  of  the  male  Beauforts,  Edmund,  Duke  of  Somerset, 
was  captured,  and  though  Edward  had  solemnly  promised  him 
and  other  prisoners  their  lives,  they  were  executed  without  mercy. 

1  Warwick  was  known  as  the  "  kingmaker"  from  the  important  part  which  he 
played  in  setting  up  and  putting  down  kings. 

2  It  was  reported  that  the  young  prince  was  slain  after  the  battle,  in  the  king’s 
presence,  by  Richard,  Duke  of  Gloucester,  the  king's  brother. 


i8o 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


On  the  night  of  Edward’s  return  from  London,  Henry  VI  died  in 
the  Tower  (1471),  put  to  death,  it  has  always  been  supposed,  by 
order  of  Edward.  There  was  not  now  a  single  member  in  the 
House  of  Lancaster  old  enough  to  dispute  Edward’s  crown  ;  nor 
was  there  a  descendant  of  Henry  IV  living ;  and  of  the  Beau- 
forts,  the  descendants  of  John  of  Gaunt  and  Catherine  Swynford, 
the  only  representative  was  the  exiled  Henry,  Duke  of  Richmond, 
fourteen  years  old,  the  son  of  Lady  Margaret  Beaufort  and  Ed¬ 
mund  Tudor.  Besides  this,  the  slaughter  among  the  adherents 
both  of  York  and  Lancaster  had,  for  the  time,  removed  fear  of 
the  nobility.  Edward  was  therefore  master  of  the  situation. 

206.  Edward’s  English  Policy;  Continental  Affairs.  1471- 
1475.  —  The  king  now  entered  upon  a  period  which  was,  for  the 
most  part,  one  of  peace.  His  rule  was  despotic,  and  Parliament 
had  little  real  power.  Parliaments,  it  is  true,  were  summoned 
occasionally,  and  the  king  laid  before  them  important  measures, 
but  these  were  almost  always  decided  as  he  wished. 

In  1475  Edward  joined  with  Charles  the  Bold  of  Burgundy,  his 
brother-in-law,'  in  an  alliance  against  Louis  XI  of  France,  the 
object  of  which  was  to  increase  Burgundy’s  domains,  on  the  one 
hand,  and,  on  the  other,  to  give  Normandy  and  Aquitaine  to 
Edward.  The  affair  was  well  planned,  and  if  Burgundy  had  been 
able  to  carry  out  his  share  of  the  enterprise,  it  would  have  gone 
hard  with  Louis.  Fortunately  for  Louis,  Charles  was  prevented 
from  joining  Edward,  and  the  latter,  in  disgust,  entered  into  a 
treaty  with  Louis,  the  shrewdest  monarch  of  his  time.  Louis 
calculated  what  the  war  would  probably  cost  and  then  offered  to 
buy  Edward  off.  His  proposition  was  accepted,  and  Edward 
returned  to  England  without  striking  a  blow.  (App.  i,  §  93.) 

207.  Benevolences.  —  In  raising  money  for  the  prosecution  of 
war  with  France  a  new  method  of  securing  funds  was  employed. 
This  wa^  the  system  of  “  benevolences.”  The  king  would  send  or 

1  Edward  had  in  1468  married  his  sister  Margaret  to  Charles  the  Bold,  Duke  of 
Burgundy. 


POLICY  OF  EDWARD  IV 


l8l 


go  to  a  wealthy  noble  or  gentleman  and  ask  him  of  his  free  will  or 
“  benevolence  ”  to  give  him  a  sum  of  money.  There  was  no  pre¬ 
tense  of  repayment ;  but  the  gift,  so  called,  was  generally  obtained, 
as  to  refuse  might  mean  confiscation  of  the  whole  of  one’s  fortune. 
This  unconstitutional  system  of  gaining  funds  apparently  was  not 
protested  against,  partly  because  the  people  were  indifferent,  as  it 
saved  them  from  taxation  and  affected  only  the  rich,  and  partly 
because  even  for  the  rich  it  was  better  to  endure  such  injustice 
than  to  run  the  risk  of  bringing  back  the  horrors  of  civil  war. 

Edward  was  little  inclined  for  war,  and  with  the  exception  of 
his  expedition  to  France  and  a  brief  campaign  against  Scotland, 
the  last  twelve  years  of  his  reign  were  peaceful.  A  few  years 
before  his  death  he  charged  his  brother,  the  Duke  of  Clarence, 
with  treason  ;  the  charge  was  sustained,  Clarence  was  condemned, 
and  was  confined  in  the  Tower,  where  he  was  secretly  murdered.* 

208.  Death  of  Edward  IV,  1483;  His  Character.  —  Edward 
IV,  though  inferior  to  many  of  his  predecessors,  was  a  strong  man, 
bold,  unscrupulous,  cruel,  and  shrewd,  rather  than  brilliant.  His 
personal  habits  were  coarse  and  sensual,  but  he  encouraged  art 
and  literature  as  well  as  commerce  and  manufactures.  That  he 
was  tolerated  is  due  to  the  fact  that  all  classes  realized  the  need 
of  a  strong  hand  at  the  helm,  preferring  his  despotism  to  the  chaos 
and  misery  they  had  endured  under  his  immediate  predecessors. 

Edward  IV  died  in  1483  at  the  early  age  of  forty-two,  worn  out 
with  dissipation.  He  left  three  children  —  two  sons  and  a  daughter. 

209.  Edward  V,  1483  ;  Richard,  Duke  of  Gloucester,  Pro¬ 
tector ;  Richard  III,  1483.  —  The  eldest  son  of  Edward,  who 
was  but  thirteen,  succeeded  him  as  Edward  V.  Plngland  with 
good  reason  had  learned  to  shrink  from  the  rule  of  regents  and 

1  This  was  the  Clarence  who  went  over  to  Warwick  and  later  married  his 
daughter,  and  still  later  deserted  Warwick  at  the  battle  of  Barnet,  and  so  helped  to 
ruin  Warwick's  cause.  Clarence  was  a  worthless  renegade,  the  “false,  fleeting, 
perjured  Clarence,"  as  he  was  called;  but  the  spectacle  of  one  brother  openly  and 
personally  charging  another  with  crime  and  then  causing  him  to  be  put  to  death, 
was  revolting  even  to  that  rough  age. 


i82 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


protectors.  The  king’s  brother,  Richard,  Duke  of  Gloucester, 
who  had  always  been  trusted  by  Edward,  was  appointed  Protector 
by  the  Royal  Council. 

Richard  immediately  began  to  scheme  for  his  own  advancement 


to  the  throne.  He  caused  the 
little  king  and  his  brother  to  be 
seized  and  put  into  the  Tower 
on  the  pretense  of  safe  keeping, 
and  on  June  25,  1483,  a  partisan 
Parliament  proclaimed  Richard 
king,  and  the  next  day  he  was 
crowned  as  Richard  III.  Not 
long  after  this  time  the  little 
princes  in  the  Tower,  sons  of 
Edward,  were  put  to  death,  it 
has  always  been  believed  by  the 
express  command  of  Richard 
himself.  The  fact  of  the  murder 
was  not  known  at  first,  but  by 


Richard  III 

After  a  contemporary  portrait 


degrees  the  story  was  spread  abroad  and  excited  universal  indig¬ 
nation.^  Richard  rapidly  lost  popularity,  and  though  he  really 
governed  well,  his  skill  did  not  avail.  Misfortunes  came  upon 
him.  In  1484  his  only  son  died,  and  the  next  year,  his  wife. 

210.  Henry  Tudor  ;  Battle  of  Bosworth  Field  ;  Death  of  Rich¬ 
ard  III.  1485.  —  Meanwhile,  Henry  Tudor,  Earl  of  Richmond 
(see  Genealogy,  p.  160),  the  Lancastrian  claimant  of  the  throne 
(§  205),  was  on  the  Continent,  laying  plans  for  the  invasion  of 
England.  In  July,  1485,  he  landed  at  Milford  Haven,  Wales, 
and  marched  across  England  with  his  forces  constantly  increasing 
by  new  adherents,  for  the  feeling  that  the  king’s  cause  was  lost 
was  now  very  general.  Henry  met  the  royal  forces  at  Bosworth 

1  The  exact  fate  of  the  little  princes  was  unknown  for  about  thirty  years,  then  a 
man  acknowledged  that  they  had  been  smothered,  and  that  their  bodies  had  been 
buried  under  a  stone  at  the  foot  of  a  staircase.  Two  hundred  years  later  two 
small  skeletons  were  found  in  the  place  indicated. 


END  OF  WARS  OF  THE  ROSES 


183 

Field,  in  the  very  center  of  England  (August  22,  1485).  Richard 
fought  desperately,  but  could  not  count  on  his  own  supporters. 
One  of  these,  Lord  Stanley,  went  over  to  Henry  at  the  beginning 
of  the  battle,  while  others  stood  aloof.  Richard  was  killed  on  the 
field  and  his  cause  was  lost.  Richard  had  worn  his  crown  in  the 
conflict,  and  after  the  battle  Lord  Stanley,  amid  shouts  of  “  King 
Henry,”  put  it  upon  Richmond’s  head. 

211.  Henry  VII.  1485.- — Henry  had  little  or  no  claim  to  the 
throne  by  hereditary  right.^  He  did  not  attempt  to  justify  himself 
on  that  basis.  Parliament,  ignoring  hereditary  claims,  accepted  the 
situation  by  declaring  that  the  inheritance  of  the  crown  was  to 
“rest  and  abide  in  King  Henry  VH  and  his  heirs.”  “He  was 
chosen  to  vindicate  no  theory  of  hereditary  or  other  abstract 
right,  but  to  govern  with  a  firm  hand,  to  give  peace  within  his 
gates,  and  prosperity  unto  his  people.” 

Henry  owed  his  success  to  a  combination  of  nobles  who  were 
tired  of  war  and  wished  for  peace.  They  included  men  of  oppo¬ 
site  parties  who  now  saw  that  an  easy  way  of  ending  the  conflict 
would  be  for  Henry  to  marry  Elizabeth,  daughter  and  only  surviv¬ 
ing  child  of  Edward  IV,  who  represented  the  Yorkist  claims.  But 
Henry,  unwilling  for  his  kingship  to  depend  solely  upon  his  wife’s 
claim,  secured  recognition  from  Parliament,  and  also  from  the  Pope. 
Then  he  married  Elizabeth,  who  was  about  twenty  years  old  ( i486), 
thus  uniting  the  claims  of  York  and  Lancaster  and  securing  the  sup¬ 
port  of  the  adherents  of  each  party.  But  it  was  Henry’s  ability  and 
shrewdness  which  made  his  throne  secure.  Circumstances  were 
favorable  for  a  man  who  could  take  advantage  of  them,  and  Henry’s 
intelligence  and  readiness  stood  him  in  good  stead. 

212.  Effects  of  the  Wars  of  the  Roses ;  Social  and  Economic 
Changes.  —  With  the  battle  of  Bosworth  Field  the  Wars  of  the 

1  On  the  hereditary  principle  the  daughter  of  Edward  IV ;  the  children  of  Lionel, 
Duke  of  Clarence;  and  Lady  Margaret  Beaufort,  Henry's  own  mother,  had  prior 
claims.  Indeed  Henry  could  claim  only  through  his.mother.  It  is  true  that  there 
had  been  no  queen  regnant,  but  Matilda  had  been  crowned  and  the  justice  of 
her  claim  was  admitted  by  the  succession  of  her  son  as  Henry  1 1. 


184 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


Roses  ended  (1455-1485).  The  whole  land,  weary  of  the  wars 
and  bloodshed  of  thirty  years,  was  ready  for  a  change.  “  These 
wars  were  set  on  foot  by  causes  not  peculiar  to  England.  They 
were  part  of  a  general  European  movement  which  was  the  struggle 
to  end  the  anarchy  which  accompanied  feudalism,  and  replace  it 
by  strong  and  efficient  monarchies.” 

The  conflict  had  been  chiefly  between  the  great  nobles  supported 
by  their  retainers ;  the  people,  as  a  whole,  did  not  take  an  active 
share  in  the  struggles ;  this  is  shown  by  the  comparatively  small 
number  of  men  who  took  part  in  most  of  the  battles.  While  the 
Wars  of  the  Roses  destroyed  the  old  nobility,  they  did  not  prevent 
the  development  of  the  other  classes.  The  social  and  economic 
changes,  which  had  begun  long  before,  continued,  and  the  close  of 
the  struggle  revealed  the  growth  of  the  towns,  the  development  of 
commerce  and  manufactures,  and  the  advance  in  the  condition  of 
the  working  classes.  It  was,  indeed,  during  this  period  that  the 
foundations  of  England’s  commerce  were  securely  laid,  and  it  saw 
the  beginning  of  that  passion  for  material  prosperity  which  has  so 
often  controlled  English  political  action.  English  merchants  inter¬ 
fered  with  the  monopoly  hitherto  held  by  the  merchants  of  the 
Hanseatic  League,'  and  exported  and  imported  goods  themselves, 
establishing  a  direct  and  profitable  trade  with  the  Continent.  At 
first  these  “  adventures  ”  were  made  by  the  towns,  but  later  by  in¬ 
dividuals  or  companies.  In  this  way  it  came  about  that  by  the 
close  of  the  fifteenth  century  almost  all  of  England’s  foreign  trade 
was  carried  on  in  English  vessels,  and  a  company  of  trained  seamen 
was  brought  into  existence. 

Naturally  literature  had  not  flourished.  Though  it  was  the  time 
of  the  Renaissance  in  Italy,  the  movement  had  comparatively  little 
effect  upon  England,  for  the  upper  classes  were  engrossed  with 
wars,  and  the  middle  classes  with  a  desire  to  increase  their  wealth 

iThe  Hanseatic  League  was  a  powerful  commercial  league  of  German  cities 
through  the  hands  of  which  most  of  the  produce  of  northern  Europe  and  Russia 
reached  England.  (App.  l,  §  68.) 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  CHANGES 


185 

and  to  take  advantage  of  the  new  avenues  for  trade  which  were 
opening  before  them.  The  universities  were  still  laboring  under 
restrictions  which  had  been  placed  upon  them  in  the  old  Lollard 
days,  and  the  church  was  keen  against  heresies.  What  really 
brought  about  a  change  in  England  was  chiefly  due,  not  to  indi¬ 
viduals,  as  was  the  case  in  Italy,  but  rather  to  the  introduction  of 
printing,  which  scattered  the  new  learning  far  and  wide. 


^  alte/ 


Facsimile  of  Part  of  Caxton’s  ^neid 

213.  Printing  in  England;  Caxton’s  Press.  1476. —  Printing 
by  means  of  blocks  had  been  known  in  England  as  early  as  the 
time  of  Edward  III  (1350),  but,  as  elsewhere,  it  did  not  have  much 
influence.  During  the  reign  of  Edward  IV,  William  Caxton,  an 
Englishman  who  had  lived  in  Flanders,  introduced  the  new  method 
of  printing  from  movable  types.  (App.  i,  §  iiF.)  On  the  Conti¬ 
nent  he  had  already  printed  in  English  T/ie  Game  and  the  Play 
of  Chesse.  Under  the  patronage  of  Edward  IV  he  set  up  his 
press  in  1476  at  Westminster,  near  where  the  Houses  of  Parlia¬ 
ment  now  are.  Here  he  issued  Chaucer’s  Canterbury  Tales,  the 
Morte  d' Arthur  of  Malory,  and  many  other  works,  for  the  demand 
was  large.  He  was  a  translator  as  well  as  a  printer,  and  transla¬ 
tions  of  Vergil’s  jpneid  (from  a  French  version),  the  Golden 
Legend,  Sayings  of  the  Philosophers,  and  other  works  appeared 
from  his  pen.  He  not  only  preserved  much  that  otherwise  might 
have  been  lost,  but  he  exercised  a  vast  influence  on  literature  by 
bringing  these  works  into  circulation  when  a  national  literature 
was  in  process  of  formation,  and  helped  thereby  to  llx  the  English 
language  in  the  form  in  which  it  has  survived. 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


1 86 


References.  —  Green,  Short  History,  chap,  v,  §  6,  chap,  vi,  §§  1-3;  Gardi¬ 
ner,  Student's  History,  chaps,  xix-xxii;  Terry,  History,  Part  III,  Book  1. 
chaps,  vi-viii;  Tout,  Advanced  History,  Book  IV,  chaps,  i-v;  Gairdner, 
Lancaster  and  York,  Selections  and  chaps,  xi,  xii;  Traill,  Social  England, 
vol.  II,  chaps,  vi-vii;  Adams  and  Stephens,  Select  Documents,  §§  105-133; 
Cheyney,  A'eadings,  chap,  xi;  Colby,  Selections,  §§  44-48;  Kendall,  Source- 
Book,  §§  37-43;  Lee,  Source-Book,  §§  99-103. 


The  Tudors 


Henry  (Tudor)  VII 
1485-1509 

=  Elizabeth  of  York 


Arthur 
d.  1502 


Margaret 


Henry  VIII 


Mary 

=  (i)  Louis  XII 
of  France 
(2)  Charles 
D.  of  Brandon 


=  Catherine 
of  Aragon 


James  V  (3)  J; 

=  Mary  of  Guise  (4)  A 


(3)  Jane  Seymour 

(4)  Anne  of  Cleves 


Mary  Queen  of  Scots  (6) 

1542-1567.  d.  1587 

=  (i)  Francis  II  of  France  1 - 


(5)  Catherine  Howard 

(6)  Catherine  Parr 


(i)  Francis  II  of  France  1 - 

(r>\  Hpnrv  Sfiinrt  MARY 


(i)  Mary  (2)  Elizabeth  (3)  Edward  VI 
1558-1603  1547-1553 


(2)  James  VI  of  Scotland 
I  of  England 


(2)  Frances 
=  Henry  Grey 
D.  of  Suffolk 


Eleanor 


Lady  jane  Grey 
=  Lord  Guilford  Dudley 

d.  1554 


Lady  Catherine  Grey 
=  Lord  Beauchamp 


CHAPTER  XIV 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  MODERN  ENGLAND;  THE  TUDORS 

214.  Beginning  of  Modern  England ;  The  Tudors.  —  During  the 
latter  part  of  the  fifteenth  century  feudalism  in  Europe  was  rapidly 
disappearing,  petty  states  were  giving  way  before  large  ones,  people 
and  nobles  were  beginning  to  learn  the  advantage  of  unity  and 
peace,  and  to  see  that  the  welfare  of  the  nation  was  superior  to 
that  of  any  party  or  faction.  The  new  movement  was  equally  ap¬ 
parent  in  England.  Men  were  weary  of  civil  war,  anarchy,  and 
factional  quarrels.  Though  Parliament  had  sought  to  limit  the 
power  of  the  crown,  it  was  itself  unable  to  rule.  To  escape  an¬ 
archy  the  Englishman  was  ready  to  grant  almost  any  power  to  “  a 
firm  and  masterful  hand.”  It  is  this  fact  which  explains  the 
almost  despotic  rule  of  the  Tudors. 

215.  Character  of  Henry  VII ;  His  Policy.  —  Henry  VII  was  a 
thrifty,  almost  niggardly,  man,  shrewd,  suspicious,  and  cautious, 
with  a  cool  head  and  far-sighted  wisdom.  He  was  reserved  and 
dignified,  and  his  tastes  were  both  artistic  and  literary  ;  a  lover  of 
architecture,  his  magnificent  memorials,  the  Henry  VH  chapel 
at  Westminster  Abbey  and  King’s  College  chapel  at  Cambridge, 
show  that  on  occasion  he  could  spend  money  liberally.  He  was 
not  fond  of  war,  probably  on  account  of  its  cost  rather  than  from 
any  higher  motive,  and  avoided  it  as  much  as  possible.  He  had 
that  most  valuable  quality  of  a  ruler —  the  ability  to  choose  skillful 
advisers. 

Henry  placed  before  himself  two  main  objects  which  were 
closely  connected  :  (i)  the  firm  establishment  of  himself  and  his 
family  upon  the  throne;  and  (2)  the  destruction  of  the  power  of 
the  great  nobles.  The  first  he  helped  greatly  by  his  marriage 

187 


i88 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


with  Elizabeth  Woodville  (§  211)  and  by  crushing  two  revolts  of 
the  Yorkist  party. 

216.  The  Simnel  and  Warbeck  Rebellions.  1487-1492.  —  In 
1487  a  man  named  Lambert  Simnel,  pretending  to  be  the  Earl  of 
Warwick,  whom  Henry  had  imprisoned,  set  on  foot  a  rebellion. 
The  movement  was  begun  in  Ireland.  He  was  supported  by  many 
in  England,  even  by  the  queen’s  mother,  Elizabeth  Woodville,  and 
was  aided  by  Margaret,  the  widow  of  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  sister 
of  Edward  IV,  who  was  always  ready  to. injure  the  Tudors.  Henry, 
however,  was  prompt  in  meeting  the  insurgents,  defeated  them, 
took  Simnel  a  prisoner,  pardoned  him,  and  gave  him  a  place  as 
scullion  in  the  royal  kitchen. 

Still  another  rebellion,  far  more  important  than  that  of  Simnel, 
took  place  in  1492.  This  time  the  one  personated  was  a  son  of 
Edward  IV,  the  little  Duke  Richard,  who  had  been  murdered  in 
the  Tower  (§  209).  Perkin  Warbeck,  this  pretender,  also  made 
his  first  appearance  in  Ireland,  and  from  there  went  to  France, 
where  he  was  kindly  received  by  Charles  VHI.  He  went  next  to 
Margaret  of  Burgundy,  who  not  only  welcomed  him,  but  also  rec¬ 
ognized  him  as  her  nephew.  Perkin  Warbeck  was  a  Fleming,  of 
fine  presence,  attractive  in  his  manners,  well  educated,  and  suited 
to  the  position  which  he  claimed.  The  importance  of  the  War¬ 
beck  conspiracy  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  offered  a  chance  for  all  of 
Henry’s  enemies  to  attack  him.  Ireland,  Scotland,  and  Burgundy 
welcomed  the  coming  of  Warbeck. 

Henry  with  characteristic  shrewdness  made  a  treaty  with 
France,  thus  detaching  that  country  from  Warbeck,  and  later  by 
removing  trade  privileges  from  the  Flemings  he  withdrew  the 
support  of  Burgundy.  He  also  determined  to  strike  at  the  Eng¬ 
lish  conspirators  so  hard  that  no  doubt  of  his  purpose  could  be 
left  in  men’s  minds.  The  head  of  the  movement  appeared  to  be 
Sir  William  Stanley,  whose  desertion  of  Richard  HI  on  Bosworth 
Field  contributed  more  than  anything  else  to  Henry’s  victory. 
Like  many  another  traitor  he  had  come  to  repent  of  his  work  and 


HENRY  VII 


189 


Henry  VII  Chapel,  Westminster  Abbey 


tried  to  undo  it.  Henry  had  him  seized,  tried,  and  executed. 
How  far  the  evidence  justified  this  action  is  not  known,  but  the 
effect  intended  by  the  king  was  secured,  for  the  Yorkist  faction 
was  thoroughly  intimidated. 

Warbeck  now  made  an  attempt  upon  England  from  the  Conti¬ 
nent,  but  being  unsuccessful,  he  fled  to  Ireland,  and  afterwards 
to  Scotland.  Here  he  was  welcomed  by  James  IV,  acknowledged 
as  Edward’s  son,  and  given  a  wife  of  the  nobility.  After  two  years 


190 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


he  went  to  Cornwall,  where  there  was  considerable  disaffection 
against  Henry  on  account  of  heavy  taxation.  Warbeck  obtained 
some  support,  but  after  an  unsuccessful  attack  upon  Exeter  he 
lost  heart  and  took  refuge  at  Beaulieu  in  the  New  Forest.  He 
was  captured,  brought  to  London,  and  having  confessed  his  fraud, 
was  sent  to  the  Tower.  Here  he  was  well  treated,  but  in  an 
attempt  to  escape,  in  company  with  Edward  Plantagenet,  Earl  of 
Warwick,  the  only  remaining  Yorkist  of  the  royal  male  line,  the 
two  young  men  were  captured.  Both  were  executed  (1499).' 
This  was  the  last  serious  attempt  to  dispossess  Henry  of  his  throne. 

217.  Henry  and  Ireland;  Poynings  Acts,  1494.  —  Henry,  an 
active  and  alert  man,  was  always  alive  to  the  needs  and  possibili¬ 
ties  of  his  kingdom.  The  ease  with  which  Simnel  and  Warbeck 
had  gained  support  in  Ireland  showed  clearly  how  little  English 
rule  amounted  to  in  that  island.  Henry  accordingly  sent  as 
deputy  Sir  Edward  Poynings,  who  had  been  his  trustworthy  com¬ 
panion  in  exile.  Poynings  first  gained  control  of  the  Pale  (§§  168, 
181)  and  then  called  an  Irish  Parliament,  which,  in  obedience  to 
his  compulsion,  passed  a  series  of  acts,  known  as  the  Poynings 
Acts  (1494)  :  (i)  that  the  consent  of  the  English  king  and  council 
was  necessary  for  the  summoning  of  an  Irish  Parliament ;  (2)  that 
all  bills  considered  by  an  Irish  Parliament  must  have  been  pre¬ 
viously  considered  by  the  English  Parliament ;  (3)  that  the  laws 
of  the  English  Parliament  were  binding  upon  Ireland.^  This 
arrangement  was  not  very  successful,  and  Henry,  recalling  his 
deputy,  sent  back  (1496)  the  Earl  of  Kildare,  whom  he  had  dis¬ 
placed  for  Poynings. 

218.  Henry  and  the  Nobles.  —  Henry  attacked  the  power  of 
the  great  English  nobles  by  laws  against  the  maintenance  of  large 
bands  of  retainers.  These  laws  he  was  fortunately  strong  enough 

1  As  Warwick  had  been  in  confinement  since  he  was  ten  years  old,  he  could  not 
have  been^uilty  of  very  serious  offenses.  Henry  simply  wished  to  put  him  out  of 
the  way ;  this  was,  however,  Henry's  only  judicial  murder. 

2  It  should  be  remembered,  however,  that  this  legislation  was  only  for  those  who 
lived  within  the  limited  area  of  the  Pale,  who  were  chiefly  English. 


THE  STAR  CHAMBER 


I9I 


to  enforce.  One  of  his  chief  supporters  at  Bosworth  Field  (§  210) 
was  the  Earl  of  Oxford.  The  king  on  one  occasion  paid  him 
a  visit,  and  when  the  royal 
visitor  took  his  leave,  he  was 
amazed  at  the  large  retinue  of 
men  drawn  up  in  his  honor. 

The  king  said,  “  My  lord,  I 
thank  you,  but  my  attorney 
must  speak  to  you.”  Oxford 
was  fined  ^{^15,000  for  his 
display,  a  sum  equivalent  to 
ten  times  that  amount  at 
present  values.  By  such  ac¬ 
tions  Henry  not  only  secured 
large  sums  of  money,  but  at 
the  same  time  weakened  the 
power  of  the  nobility,  and 
greatly  diminished  the  likelihood  of  civil  war. 

219.  The  Star  Chamber.  1487.  —  From  very  early  times  it  was 
customary  for  the  king  to  have  a  body  of  advisers  known  as  the 
Royal  Council  or  the  Great  Council.  The  power  and  functions 
of  this  body  had  varied  with  the  varying  circumstances  of  the 
country.  At  the  time  of  Simnel’s  conspiracy  Henry  secured  from 
Parliament  an  act  which  set  apart  five  members  of  the  Council 
and  two  judges  whose  special  business  was  to  decide  upon  cases 
relating  to  the  great  nobles,  such  as  the  maintaining  of  bands  of 
retainers,  or  any  interference  with  the  course  of  justice,  and  to 
deal  with  cases  which  local  juries  or  common  law  courts  were  too 
weak  to  handle.  Complaints  were  heard  at  Westminster  (London), 
and  judgment,  which  extended  to  fine  and  imprisonment,  was 
given  by  the  court  without  a  jury.  The  court  sat  in  a  room 
known  as  the  Star  Chamber,*  and  hence  received  that  name. 


Henry  VII 

After  the  portrait  in  the  National 
Portrait  Gallery 


t  The  origin  of  the  name  of  the  room  is  uncertain.  It  is  “  so  called,  either  be¬ 
cause  the  roof  was  decorated  with  stars,  or  because  it  was  the  room  in  which  had 


192 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


That  the  court  exercised  a  good  influence  and  was  popular  in  its 
early  days  is  undoubted,  but  it  afterwards  became  an  instrument 
of  tyranny  (§  369).  Henry  also  reorganized  the  courts  to  the 
advantage  and  protection  of  the  great  middle  classes  upon  whom 
he  relied  for  his  support. 

220.  Henry  VII  and  the  Finances.  —  Henry’s  management  of 
the  finances  of  the  country  was  shrewd  and  wise.  Every  source 
of  income  was  carefully  examined  and  made  to  produce  as  much 
as  possible.  Officials  were  held  to  a  rigid  account  of  receipts  and 
payments,  and  every  avenue  of  expenditure  was  closely  watched 
to  cut  off  unnecessary  outlay.  Henry,  moreover,  avoided  that 
fruitful  source  of  expense,  foreign  wars.  Besides  the  regular 
methods  of  raising  revenue  he  employed  others,  some  of  which, 
strictly  speaking,  were  illegal.  Among  them  he  made  use  of 
benevolences'  (§  207).  In  collecting  these  benevolences  Arch¬ 
bishop  Morton,  who  was  Henry’s  Chancellor,  is  said  to  have 
invented  a  new  method  of  forcing  money  out  of  the  wealthy, 
known  as  “Morton’s  Fork.”^  If  a  man  reputed  to  be  wealthy 
lived  economically,  he  was  told  that  he  must  have  saved  money, 
and  therefore  could  afford  to  give  to  the  king;  on  the  other  hand, 
a  man  living  in  fine  style  was  told  that  if  he  could  afford  to  live  so 
handsomely  he  could  well  spare  some  of  his  wealth  for  the  king. 
Besides  this,  old  feudal  dues  were  sought  out  and  demanded  ;  and 
Henry  even  went  into  commerce  and  added  to  his  wealth  in  that 
way.  By  this  course  he  not  only  secured  funds,  but  was  enabled 
to  rule  without  Parliament,  for  at  this  period  perhaps  the  chief  func¬ 
tion  of  Parliament  was  to  make  money  grants.  The  fact  that  he 
summoned  Parliament  only  seven  times  during  his  whole  reign  of 
twenty-four  years  indicates  the  success  of  his  policy. 

been  formerly  kept  Jewish  bonds  or  ‘  starres.’ "  The  court  sometimes  numbered 
among  its  members  bishops  and  heads  of  colleges. 

1  The  statute  'abolishing  benevolences  passed  during  the  reign  of  Richard  III 
was  ignored  by  Henry  on  the  ground  that  it  was  passed  by  a  usurper  (§  209). 

2  Notwithstanding  tradition  it  is  doubtful  whether  Morton  is  really  to  be  credited 
with  the  invention  of  “  the  fork." 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  MODERN  ENGLAND 


193 


221.  Henry  VII  and  Foreign  Affairs.  —  Henry  was  as  careful 
in  his  administration  of  foreign  affairs  as  in  his  domestic  manage¬ 
ment.  His  object  above  everything  else  was  to  maintain  peace. 
When  war  seemed  inevitable,  he  was  always  ready  to  come  to  terms 
if  such  could  possibly  be  accepted.  The  great  powers  on  the  con¬ 
tinent  of  Europe  at  this  time  were  Spain  and  France.  The  true 
policy  of  England  was  to  keep  aloof  and  watch  her  opportunity  to 
take  advantage  of  the  quarrels  of  her  neighbors ;  but  to  be  in 
alliance  with  some  continental  power  was  thought  essential. 

222.  Henry  VII  and  Foreign  Marriages ;  Prince  Henry  and 
Catherine  of  Aragon.  1505.  —  Henry  strove  to  increase  his  own 
power  and  that  of  England  by  the  marriage  of  his  children.  His 
eldest  son,  Arthur,  was  contracted  to  Catherine  of  Aragon, 
daughter  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  of  Spain  (App.  i,  §  89); 
and  his  eldest  daughter,  Margaret,  was  married  to  James  IV 
of  Scotland.' 

Princess  Catherine  came  to  England  in  1501  and  was  married 
to  Prince  Arthur,  who  was  then  about  fourteen.  The  next  year 
Arthur  died,  and  her  father  and  mother  proposed  that  she  should 
marry  Henry’s  next  son,  Henry,  who  was  about  eleven  years  old, 
and  six  years  younger  than  Catherine.  They  argued  to  themselves 
that  Henry  would  never  repay  the  half  of  Catherine’s  marriage 
portion  which  had  already  been  sent,  and  that  all  that  they  would 
have  to  do  would  be  to  complete  the  original  portion.  Henry, 
fearing  lest  the  half  already  received  might  be  demanded  from 
him,  willingly  accepted  the  proposition.  A  dispensation  from  the 
Pope  (Julius  H)  was  obtained  (1503),  but  when  the  time  for  the 
betrothal  arrived  (1505)  young  Henry  privately  made  a  formal 
protest  against  the  future  marriage,  doubtless  instructed  thereto  by 
his  wily  father. 

223.  The  Renaissance  in  England ;  Erasmus ;  Colet ;  More. 
—  It  was  during  Henry’s  reign  that  the  revival  of  letters,  or  Ren- 

iThis  marriage,  through  her  great  grandson,  James  VI,  led  to  the  union  of  the 
crowns  of  England  and  Scotland  on  the  death  of  Queen  Elizabeth. 


194 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


aissance,  first  strongly  affected  English  life  and  thought.  (App.  i, 
§  1 13.)  Many  young  Englishmen  visited  Italy,  the  center  of  the 
learning,  and  brought  back  with  them  books  and  new  ideas,  and 
new  aspirations  as  well.  Scholarly  Italians  came  to  England  with 
stimulating  effect.  Greek  was  introduced  at  the  universities,  and 
three  men,  Grocyn,  Linacre,  and  Colet  were  all  teachers  of  it. 
John  Colet  was  appointed  Dean  of  St.  Paul’s,  London,  and 
founded  St.  Paul’s  school,  which  still  flourishes;  and  Linacre 
was  appointed  tutor  to  the  Prince  of  Wales.  From  this  time 
education  took  a  fresh  start  in  England.  Another  man  to  whom 
England  owed  much  was  Erasmus,  a  continental  scholar,  who 
first  came  to  England  in  1498.  He  resided  for  a  time  at  Oxford, 
later  at  Cambridge  and  at  London,  and 
frequently  visited  England  in  after  years, 
keeping  up  his  friendship  with  the  Eng¬ 
lish  scholars. 

The  flower  of  English  culture  in  the  lat¬ 
ter  part  of  Henry’s  reign  was  Sir  Thomas 
More.  Colet,  Erasmus,  and  More,  known 
as  the  Oxford  Reformers,*  were  the  pio¬ 
neers  in  the  advancement  of  learning 
and  true  education  in  England. 

224.  The  Cabots.  1497.  —  Henry, 
though  a  strong  supporter  of  commerce 
and  trade,  declined  to  assist  Columbus 
in  his  efforts  to  raise  funds  for  his  first 
voyage.  (App.  i,  §  112.)  Later,  how¬ 
ever,  Henry  gave  John  Cabot  and  his  son 
Sebastian  leave  to  undertake  a  voyage 
westward  and  in  the  name  of  the  English 

crown  to  take  possession  of  any  lands 
Erected  at  Bristol,  England,  ^  ,  .  ,  i.  j* 

in  memory  of  the  first  sailor  that  they  might  discover,  i  he  expecli- 
fromEnglartdtovisitAmerica 

1  So  called  because  the  movement  began  at  Oxford  with  John  Colet. 


Cabot  Memorial  Tower 


THE  RENAISSANCE  IN  ENGLAND 


195 


the  second  largest  port  of  England.  The  Cabots  reached  Cape 
Breton  and  Labrador,  thus  discovering  the  continent  of  North 
America.  They  brought  back  little  but  the  record  of  their  dis¬ 
covery.  An  entry  in  the  royal  accounts  reads,  “  Ten  pounds  to 
him  that  found  the  new  Isle.”  In  1498  the  Cabots  made  a 
second  voyage  to  America,  extending  their  explorations  perhaps  as 
far  as  Albemarle  Sound.^  The  English  paid  little  attention  to 
these  discoveries  at  the  time,  but  later  upon  them  based  their 
claims  to  North  America. 

225.  Death  of  Henry  VII ;  Henry  VIII.  1509.  —  Henry  died 
in  1509,  leaving  to  his  son  a  secure  throne,  a  full  treasury,  a  strong 
and  well-organized,  though  scarcely  a  constitutional,  government, 
and  a  peaceful  and  prosperous  people.  No  king  in  England  for 
years  had  come  to  the  throne  under  such  favorable  auspices  as 
did  Henry  VI II.  He  was  eighteen  years  old,  tall,  well  formed, 
athletic,  and  an  adept  in  all  the  manly  sports  of  the  day.  He 
was  pleasant  in  his  manners,  skilled  in  music,  and  well  educated. 
Indeed  “  no  previous  king  had  been  so  well  educated ;  he  knew 
Latin,  French,  Spanish,  and  some  Greek.”  He  sympathized  with 
the  new  learning,  and  scholars  and  people  alike  rejoiced  at  his 
accession.  Soon  afterwards  (1509)  he  married  Catherine  of  Ara¬ 
gon,  the  widow  of  his  brother  Arthur,  to  whom  he  had  been  so 
long  betrothed.  This  marriage  had  momentous  consequences. 
Henry’s  reign  falls  into  two  clearly  defined  periods  ;  that  in  which 
Wolsey  was  his  great  minister  (1509-1529)  ;  and  that  in  which 
Henry  for  the  most  part  ruled  for  himself  (1529-1547). 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  Henry  was  to  send  to  the  Tower  two 
men,  Empson  and  Dudley,  who  had  been  his  father’s  agents  in 
collecting  money.  They  were  tried  and  convicted,  not  of  illegally 
forcing  money  payments,  of  which  they  may  have  been  guilty, 
but  of  conspiracy  against  the  crown.  This  act  was  an  object 

r  What  part  Sebastian  Cabot,  the  son,  took  in  these  enterprises  is  uncertain. 
The  value  of  money  at  that  time  was  perhaps  ten  times  as  much  as  at  present,  so 
ten  pounds  was  no  small  sum. 


196 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


lesson  which  showed  that  the  worst  offense  which  could  Ije  com¬ 
mitted  was  one  against  the  king. 

Henry  enjoyed  spending  money  as  much  as  his  father  had 
delighted  in  hoarding  it,  and  for  the  first  few  years  of  his  reign 
fetes,  tournaments,  masquerades,  balls,  and  the  like  followed  one 
another  rapidly. 

226.  Foreign  Affairs ;  Rise  of  Wolsey.  —  Continental  affairs 
soon  began  to  attract  Henry’s  attention,  and  in  15  ii  Pope  Julius 
H  induced  him  to  attack  France  because  the  Pope  wished  to 
drive  the  French  out  of  Italy.  There  was  still  in  England  a 
strong  feeling  against  France,  and  no  objection  was  made  to 
Henry’s  plans ;  in  fact,  many  of  the  younger  generation  were 
more  than  ready  for  a  war.  Henry  found  a  minister  in  Thomas 
Wolsey,  one  of  the  most  interesting  as  well  as  one  of  the  most 
able  men  in  English  history. 

Wolsey  was  of  humble  though  respectable  birth,'  and  afterwards 
was  often  reminded  of  his  humble  origin.  He  was  a  Bachelor  of 
Arts  of  Oxford  when  he  was  but  fifteen,  and  had  risen  rapidly  until 
he  reached  the  post  of  king’s  almoner.^  Although  trained  for  a 
churchman,  he  had  a  remarkable  aptitude  for  diplomacy  and  for 
organization,  which  made  him  equally  fit  for  the  church  council, 
the  king’s  council,  or  the  army  board.  He  had  accompanied 
Henry  in  an  expedition  to  France,  had  gained  his  confidence, 
and  had  become  his  most  trusted  adviser. 

227.  Scotland;  Flodden  Field,  15 13  ;  France.  — 1111513,  while 
Henry  was  in  France,  James  IV  of  Scotland,  notwithstanding 
the  fact  that  Henry  was  his  brother-in-law  (§  222),  invaded  the 
north  of  England,  but  his  army  was  overthrown  by  the  Earl  of 
Surrey  at  Flodden  Field  (September  9,  1513),  and  he,  with  the 

1  His  father  was  reported  to  have  been  a  butcher,  and  one  of  the  squibs  against 
his  son  reads : 

Begot  by  butchers,  but  by  bishops  bred. 

How  high  bis  honor  holds  his  haughty  head.” 

There  seems  to  be  little  or  no  ground  for  this  tradition,  for  the  older  Wolsey 
appears  to  have  been  a  merchant  or  grazier  of  the  town  of  Ipswich. 

2  Almoner,  the  distributor  of  the  king's  alms  or  bounty. 


HENRY  VIII  AND  LOUIS  XII 


197 


flower  of  Scottish  nobility,  was  slain.  This  took  away  all  danger 
of  a  northern  invasion  for  twenty  years,  as  James’s  son  was  a 
child.  Wolsey  had  not  favored  the  Spanish  alliance,  though  he 
had  carried  out  Henry’s  wishes.  Henry,  however,  found  that 
Maximilian  and  Ferdinand  were  using  him  solely  for  their  own 
advantage.  Louis  XH 
of  France  was  very 
ready  to  come  to  terms 
with  Henry,  and,  as  this 
policy  was  in  accord 
with  Wolsey’s  views, 
an  understanding  was 
soon  brought  about.  A 
marriage  was  arranged 
between  Henry’s 
younger  sister,  Mary, 
and  Louis  XIH  (1514), 
and  the  French  also 
agreed  to  pay  a  large 
sum  of  money  to  the 
English.  LFnfortu- 
nately  for  the  per¬ 
manence  of  the  plans, 

Louis  XI I  died  a  few  months  after  the  marriage,  and  was  suc¬ 
ceeded  by  his  cousin  and  son-in-law,  known  as  Francis  1. 

228.  Continental  Affairs;  Wolsey’s  Policy.  —  The  death  of 
Louis  broke  up  the  alliance  between  France  and  England. 
Francis  soon  invaded  Italy  and  gained  a  great  victory  (Marignano, 

1  The  Princess  Mary  protested  bitterly  against  this  arrangement,  as  she  wished 
to  marry  Charles  Brandon,  Duke  of  Suffolk.  All  she  could  gain  from  her  brother 
was  the  promise  that  if  she  married  this  time  to  please  him,  she  might  marry  next 
time  to  please  herself.  After  the  death  of  Louis  (1515),  who  was  her  senior  by 
thirty-four  years,  she  married  Brandon  while  still  in  France,  so  as  to  give  her 
brother  no  opportunity  of  going  back  on  his  word.  From  her  was  descended  the 
unfortunate  Lady  Jane  Grey  (§§  268,  269,  275). 


Henry  VIII 

After  the  portrait  by  Holbein 


198 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


September  13-15,  1515)-  Ferdinand  of  Spain  died  early  in  1516 
and  was  succeeded  by  his  grandson  Charles.  The  three  most 
powerful  monarchs  in  Europe  were  Charles  of  Spain,  Francis  of 
France,  and  Henry  of  England,  all  of  them  under  thirty,  and 
each  one  able  and  ambitious.  A  strife  for  the  mastery  in  European 
affairs  was  inevitable.  Wolsey’s  policy  for  England  was  peace, 
and  to  preserve  this  he  strove  to  maintain  what  was  called  in  later 
times  “  the  balance  of  power  in  Europe.”  ^  But  Wolsey’s  plans  were 
thwarted  by  the  death  of  Maximilian,  the  Emperor  of  Germany 
(1519),  for  Charles,  Francis,  and  Henry  immediately  became 
competitors  for  the  imperial  crown.  Henry  had  no  chance,  and 
doubtless  was  well  aware  of  the  fact,  but  he  wished  to  assume  an 
important  position  in  European  politics.  (App.  i,  §  123.) 

229.  Charles  of  Spain  elected  Emperor,  1519;  Visits  Henry, 
1520.  —  After  some  scheming  on  all  sides,  Charles  of  Spain,  a 
grandson  of  the  late  emperor  and  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  was 
chosen  (June  28,  1519)  and  became  Charles  V  of  the  German  or 
Holy  Roman  Empire.  He  was  about  twenty-one,  and  the  ruler, 
real  or  nominal,  of  more  extensive  dominions  than  any  one  since 
Charles  the  Great. “ 

Wolsey  strove  to  hold  both  Francis  and  Charles  in  the  position 
of  seeking  alliance  with  England.  Francis  was  readily  influenced 
because  he  feared  the  great  power  of  Charles  ;  and  an  alliance  with 
Henry  was  desired  by  Charles  to  prevent  the  union  of  the  forces 
of  France  and  England.  Wolsey,  therefore,  arranged  that  Henry 
should  meet  both  Charles  and  Francis.  Charles  came  to  England 
in  May,  1520,  and  met  Henry  at  Canterbury. 

230.  Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold.  — Henry  went  to  France  in  the 
same  year  (1520)  and  met  Francis  near  Calais.  Here  was  a  con¬ 
tinual  round  of  feasting,  tournaments,  and  the  like,  carried  on  with 
such  an  amount  of  display  and  magnificence  that  the  place  was 

1  The  principle  in  this  policy  is  “  such  an  adjustment  among  sovereign  states  that 
no  single  state  is  in  a  position  to  interfere  with  the  independence  of  the  rest.” 
This  is  often  interpreted  to  mean  "  existing  conditions  should  remain  as  they  are.” 

^  He  is  said  to  have  had,  by  virtue  of  his  many  possessions,  seventy-five  titles. 


FIELD  OF  THE  CLOTH  OF  GOLD 


199 


called  the  Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold.  The  expressions  of  good 
will  and  friendship  exchanged  did  not  amount  to  much,  for  shortly 
afterwards  Henry  and  Charles  met  again,  and  a  treaty  between 
them  was  signed.^ 

War  soon  broke  out  and,  in  spite  of  Wolsey’s  efforts,  England 
and  Charles  V  formed  an  active  alliance,  an  English  army  taking 
the  field  against  France  (1522).  Henry  gave  as  a  reason  for  his 


The  Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold 
After  the  painting  in  the  Royal  Collection  at  Hampton  Court  Palace 

action  that  his  commercial  interests  in  Flanders,  one  of  Charles’s 
provinces,  made  the  alliance  necessary.  Charles  was  successful 
in  his  campaign,  defeating  Francis  and  taking  him  prisoner  at 
Pavia,  Italy  (February  24,  1525),^  but,  though  he  was  victor,  he 
had  alienated  both  Henry  and  Wolsey  by  his  evident  duplicity. 
(App.  I,  §  123.) 

231.  Wolsey  at  the  Height  of  his  Power.  —  Wolsey  was  now  at 
the  height  of  his  power.  His  surroundings  were  magnificent ;  he 
had  from  three  hundred  to  eight  hundred  attendants ;  his  palace 
at  Hampton  Court  was  equal  to  those  of  royalty ;  and  his  revenue 

1  It  should  be  remembered  that  Henry’s  wife  was  Charles's  aunt. 

2  It  was  after  this  battle  that  Francis,  in  writing  to  his  mother  to  announce  his 
defeat,  used  an  expression  which  has  come  down  to  us  in  the  form,  “  All  is  lost  save 
honor." 


200 


IIlSTdRY  OF  ENGLAND 


was  princely.  He  was  Bishop  of  Toiirnai,  Bishop  of  Lincoln, 
Archbishop  of  York,  Cardinal  of  the  Church,  Chancellor  of  the 
Kingdom,  and  Papal  Legate,  all  at  the  same  time.  His  state  and 
his  manner  of  life  went  beyond  even  the  lax  morals  of  that  day. 

Wolsey,  though  a  high  official  in  the  church,  seems  to  have 
looked  upon  the  church  chiefly  as  a  useful  part  of  state  machinery. 
Still,  he  was  well  aware  that  some  reformation  of  the  church 
was  certainly  coming,  and  though  he  was  opposed  to  Luther,  he 
saw  that  it  would  be  wiser  to  take  some  steps  towara  reforma¬ 
tion  himself  rather  than  have  it  forced  upon  the  country. 
Accordingly,  with  the  acquiescence  of  both  king  and  Pope,  he 
dissolved  a  number  of  small  monasteries  and  applied  their 
revenues  to  the  support  of  education.  In  this  way  Cardinal 
College  was  founded  (1524),  which,  under  the  name*of  Christ 
Church,  is  now  the  largest  college  at  Oxford. 

Wolsey’s  success  made  for  him  many  enemies,  and  their  number 
was  increased  by  his  haughty  manners,  and  by  what  he  did  both 
of  his  own  will  and  by  command  of  the  king.  Much  of  his  un¬ 
popularity  was  due  to  the  taxation  required  by  the  French  war. 

232.  Wolsey  and  Parliament.  1523.  —  Wolsey  was  a  firm 
believer  in  absolute  monarchy,  and  this  was  one  reason  why  he 
was  able  to  retain  the  favor  of  Henry  for  so  long  a  period,  abso¬ 
lutism  being  the  cardinal  doctrine  of  all  the  Tudors.  Hitherto 
Henry  and  Wolsey  had  avoided  calling  Parliaments,  but  now  it 
seemed  needful  to  summon  a  Parliament  to  grant  funds,  which 
Wolsey  seems  to  have  thought  was  its  only  function.  The  Par¬ 
liament  met  in  1523,  but  was  by  no  means  inclined  to  grant  the 
immense  sum  which  was  demanded.  Wolsey  “  had  been  so  busy 
in  managing  emperors  and  kings  that  he  had  forgotten  how  to 
deal  with  his  own  countrymen,”  and  most  unwisely  and  unwarrant¬ 
ably  entered  the  House  of  Commons  in  an  effort  to  intimidate  its 
members.  He  was  met  by  a  stubborn  silence,  the  Commons  re¬ 
fusing  to  discuss  his  demands  in  his  presence.  He  retired  in 
humiliation,  and  finally  received  only  about  half  of  the  sum  asked 


WOLSEY  AND  HIS  POWER 


201 


for.  After  the  battle  of  Pavia  (§  230),  money  was  again  needed, 
but  recourse  was  now  had  to  a  forced  loan  which  resembled 
the  old  benevolences, 
and  was  called  at  that 
time  “an  amicable 
loan.’’  This,  like  the 
previous  efforts  to  raise 
funds,^  was  exceedingly 
unpopular,  and  Wolsey 
had  to  bear  the  brunt 
of  the  dissatisfaction, 
for  it  was  not  known 
at  the  time  that  the 
king  was  responsible 
for  the  measure,  and 
Wolsey  loyally  took  the 
blame  which  the  selfish 
monarch  was  only  too 

ready  to  shift  from  his  „  ,,, 

own  shoulders. 


References.  —  Green,  Short  History,  chap,  vi,  §§  3-5;  Gardiner,  Studenfs 
History,  chaps,  xxiii-xxiv;  Terry,  History,  Part  III,  Book  II,  chaps,  i-ii 
(pp.  494-520);  Tout,  Advanced  History,  Book  V,  chaps,  i-ii;  Traill,  Social 
England,  vol.  II,  chap,  viii;  Adams  and  Stephens,  Select  Documents,  §§  134- 
143;  Cheyney,  Readings,  chap,  xii,  §§  i-ii;  Colby,  Selections,  §§51-53; 
Kendall,  Source-Book,  §§  44-46. 

1  Some  historians  believe  that  forced  loans  were  attempted  before  Parliament 
was  summoned. 


CHAPTER  XV 


THE  TUDORS  {Continued) 

233.  Henry  VIII  and  Catherine.  —  Henry  had  lived  with  Cath¬ 
erine  for  about  eighteen  years  with  apparent  satisfaction.  Several 
children  had  been  born  to  them,  but  only  one,  the  Princess  Mary, 
had  survived  infancy.  Up  to  this  time  no  queen  had  sat  upon  the 
English  throne,  and  Henry  was  fearful  that  there  might  be  some 
trouble  attending  Mary’s  succession.  He  had,  before  1521,  re¬ 
moved  the  various  possible  Yorkist  claimants  to  the  crown,  but 
still  the  final  issue  was  doubtful.  He  therefore  above  all  things 
desired  a  son  that  the  succession  might  be  unquestioned.  There 
can  be  little  doubt  that  if  Catherine  had  been  the  mother  of  a  son 
that  lived,  the  divorce  would  never  have  taken  place.  Political  ex¬ 
pediency  caused  Henry  to  insist  on  a  divorce.  He  was,  more¬ 
over,  growing  tired  of  Catherine,  who  was  much  older  than  he, 
and  his  fancy  was  attracted  by  a  young  and  pretty  maid  of  honor 
at  the  court,  Anne  Boleyn.  He  therefore  professed  to  be  troubled 
with  scruples  concerning  his  marriage  with  Catherine,  who  was  the 
widow  of  his  brother  Arthur  (§§  222-225).  According  to  church 
canons  such  a  marriage  was  unlawful,  but  a  special  dispensation 
of  Pope  Julius  H  had  made  it  legal  (§  222,  note).  The  question 
was,  how  to  persuade  the  present  Pope,  Clement  VH,  to  revoke 
the  action  of  his  predecessor.^  The  matter  was  further  com¬ 
plicated  by  the  fact  that  Catherine  was  the  aunt  of  the  Emperor 
Charles  V ;  moreover,  Charles  had  captured  Rome  and  held  the 

iThe  question  turned  on  the  point  as  to  whether  Julius  II  was  justified  in  grant¬ 
ing  the  dispensation;  if  he  was,  the  marriage  could  not  be  annulled;  but  if  not, 
then  the  marriage  was  invalid,  and  Henry  was  at  liberty  to  marry  whom  he  pleased. 


202 


HENRY  'VI  1 1  AND  WOLSEY 


203 


Pope  a  prisoner.  The  Pope  needed  the  support  of  the  Emperor 
on  account  of  the  Protestant  Reformation,  which  was  shaking  to 
its  very  foundations  the  power  of  the  Papacy  in  Germany.  On  the 
other  hand,  Clement  had  no  wish  to 
offend  Henry,  as  under  the  existing 
condition  of  affairs  in  Europe  his 
enmity  might  be  a  very  serious  thing. 

234.  Wolsey  and  the  Divorce. — 

Wolsey  was  a  skillful  diplomatist,  but 
he  now  had  to  face  a  matter  which, 
however  it  might  end,  was  pretty 
sure  to  be  his  ruin.  He  does  not 
seem  at  first  to  have  known  of 
Henry’s  desire  to  marry  Anne  Boleyn, 
and  he  was  willing,  though  it  was 
against  his  judgment,  to  try  to  gain 
the  Pope’s  consent  to  a  divorce. 

The  Pope,  whose  policy  was  clearly  that  of  delay,  did  his  best  to 
prolong  the  discussion.  After  about  two  years  of  diplomacy  the 
Pope  appointed  a  commission,  of  which  Wolsey  was  a  member,  to 
sit  in  England  (1529).  Still  no  decision  was  reached.  Then 
Catherine  herself  made  an  appeal  to  the  Pope,  who  took  the 
case  into  his  own  hands,  and  adjourned  the  trial  to  Rome,  thus 
insuring  still  further  delay.  Henry,  unaccustomed  to  be  thwarted 
in  anything,  resented  this  treatment  of  a  matter  in  which  he  was 
personally  and  passionately  concerned. 

235.  Henry  and  Wolsey;  Fate  of  Wolsey.  1530. —  Henry 
vented  his  wrath  upon  Wolsey,  who  was  already  the  enemy  of  the 
Duke  of  Norfolk,  Anne  Boleyn’s  uncle,  and  of  Anne  herself.  He 
was  charged  with  violating  the  old  Statute  of  Praemunire  by  be¬ 
coming  papal  legate,  and  thought  it  wisest  to  plead  guilty.  He 
was  exiled  to  York  and  was  deprived  of  the  greater  part  of  his 
possessions  and  of  all  of  his  honors  and  positions,  except  that  of 
Archbishop  of  York.  Henry’s  action  was  contemptible,  for  he 


204 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


had  himself  asked  for  the  legatine  office  for  Wolsey,  he  had  prac¬ 
tically  forced  the  cardinal  to  accept  it,  and  it  had  been  used  for 
Henry’s  benefit.  Wolsey  knew  the  king  too  well  to  make  the 
slightest  resistance,  but  humbled  himself  before  his  unjust  master, 
thereby  probably  saving  his  life  and  the  few  honors  which  were 
left  him.  But  his  enemies,  fearful  of  his  popularity  in  the  north, 
brought  against  him  charges  of  treason.  He  was  summoned  to 
London  to  answer  these,  but  his  health  had  already  broken  down 
under  his  trials  and  misfortunes  ;  he  was  seized  with  severe  illness 
and  died  at  Leicester  abbey  on  his  way  to  the  Tower  (November 
29,  1530).  “  .4h,”  he  said  to  the  officer  who  had  him  in  charge, 

“  had  I  but  served  God  as  diligently  as  I  have  served  the  king. 
He  would  not  have  given  me  over  in  my  gray  hairs.  But  this  is 
my  due  reward  for  my  pains  and  my  study,  not  regarding  my 
service  to  God  but  only  my  duty  to  my  prince.” 

236.  Cranmer  and  Cromwell.  —  Henry  again  tried  to  gain  per¬ 
mission  from  the  Pope  to  accomplish  his  purpose.  In  1530,  by 
the  advice  of  Thomas  Cranmer,  afterwards  Archbishop  of  Canter¬ 
bury  (§  240),  he  appealed  to  the  universities  of  Europe  to  give 
an  opinion  as  to  whether  the  Pope-  had  power  to  legalize  a 
marriage  with  a  brother’s  widow.  As  might  have  been  expected, 
the  universities  took  their  time,  and  when  their  decision  was  given 
it  w'as  so  evidently  the  result  of  royal  bribery*  that  the  Pope 
remained  unmoved  by  it.  Nearly  three  years  had  now  passed, 
and  by  the  advice  of  a  new  counsellor,  Thomas  Cromwell,  Henry 
resolved  to  take  things  into  his  own  hands.  Cromwell,  who  had 
been  a  follower  of  Wolsey,  was,  like  him,  an  unscrupulous  states¬ 
man.  Though  of  humble  birth  he  had  great  ability  ;  he  also  was 
a  firm  believer  in  absolute  monarchy,  and  his  policy  was  more 
daring  than  that  of  the  cardinal  had  been. 

237.  Parliament  of  1529.  —  Up  to  this  time  Henry  had  ruled 
practically  without  Parliaments ;  now  he  made  a  total  change  in 
his  policy.  A  Parliament  was  called  in  1529  and  it  sat  continu- 

1  Bribery  was  a  recognized  weapon  of  diplomacy. 


HENRY  VIII  AND  PARLIAMENT 


205 


ously  for  seven  years.’  It  is  one  of  the  most  important  Parlia¬ 
ments  in  English  history.  No  previous  Parliament  had  been  the 
author  of  such  momentous  legislation,  and  few  if  any  succeeding 
Parliaments  have  equaled  it.  It  severed  the  bonds  which  united 
England  to  Rome  ;  it 
established  the  Na¬ 
tional  Church  ;  it  dis¬ 
solved  the  smaller 
monasteries ;  it  fixed 
the  articles  of  reli¬ 
gious  belief ;  it  settled 
the  succession  to  the 
crown  ;  it  greatly  in¬ 
creased  the  royal 
authority;  it  abridged 
the  liberties  of  the 
subjects ;  it  united 
Wales  and  England  ; 
it  passed  various 
economic  acts  of 
far-reaching  effect ; 
and  it  dealt  with  many  important  social  problems.  Henry,  wiser 
than  Wolsey,  who  would  have  abolished  Parliament,  contrived  that 
his  Parliaments  should  follow  his  lead.  He  thus  gained  the  ap¬ 
pearance  of  acting  in  accord  with  the  wish  of  the  people,  and 
yet  had  his  own  way  all  the  time. 

238.  Henry  breaks  with  Rome.  1532.  —  Failing  to  get  the 
Pope  to  do  as  he  desired  (§  234),  Henry  resolved  to  break  with 
the  Roman  church.  The  times  were  propitious  for  such  an  act. 
Englishmen  had  never  liked  foreign  influence  in  the  country ;  the 
clergy  were  wealthy,  and  there  had  been  undoubted  abuses ;  and 
in  England  the  church  had  lost  much  of  its  hold  on  all  classes. 
Henry  was  also  eager  to  get  hold  of  the  riches  of  the  clergy. 

1  Heretofore  Parliament  had  not  sat  more  than  a  year  without  a  new'  election. 


Thomas  Cranmer 


206 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


Lollardry  was  by  no  means  extinct,  and  there  is  little  doubt  that  the 
new  learning  had  its  effect  in  arousing  a  feeling  against  the  church. 

It  was  probably  Cromwell  who  first  urged  Henry  to  break  with 
the  church.  Moving-more  slowly  than  Cromwell  advised,  Henry 
first  denied  the  power  of  the  Pope  to  issue  any  dispensation  ;  then 
he  called  upon  Parliament  to  reform  abuses  in  the  church,  and 
sent  the  petition  it  framed  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  who 
in  turn  called  upon  his  bishops  to  reply.  The  answer  of  the 
bishops  showed  how  little  they  understood  either  the  times  they 
lived  in  or  the  king,  for  they  not  only  said  in  effect  that  they  ac¬ 
knowledged  no  authority  in  regard  to  their  laws  other  than  the 
Bible  and  the  Catholic  church,  but  went  even  farther,  and  advised 
the  king  “  to  temper  his  laws  in  conformity  with  these.” 

239.  Charges  against  the  Clergy;  Henry  Supreme  Head  of  the 
Church.  1532.  —  This  position  gave  Henry  his  chance,  of  which 
he  was  not  slow  to  avail  himself.  He  induced  Parliament  to  de¬ 
clare  that  the  clergy  themselves,  by  the  recognition  of  Wolsey  as 
papal  legate,  had  become  guilty  of  a  breach  of  the  Statute  of 
Praemunire,  and  were  therefore  liable  to  a  confiscation  of  all  their 
goods.  It  was  a  discreditable  charge  from  beginning  to  end,  for, 
as  the  king  himself  had  authorized  Wolsey  to  be  legate,  if  the 
clergy  had  refused  to  obey  Wolsey  at  the  time,  they  would  have 
been  punished  by  royal  command.  The  Convocations '  of  Canter¬ 
bury  and  York  offered  to  buy  their  pardon  for  18,000,  equiva¬ 
lent  at  present  values  to  about  ten  times  that  amount ;  but  Henry 
refused  unless  they  would  acknowledge  him  as  “  the  singular  (sole) 
protector  and  only  supreme  governor  of  the  English  church.” 
The  convocation  could  not  agree  to  this  statement ;  but  at  last 
Archbishop  Warham  suggested  the  phrase  “  so  far  as  the  laws  of 
Christ  permit,  its  supreme  head.”  The  clergy  were  forced  to 
submit.  The  words  were  skillfully  chosen,  for  while  they  did  not 
ostensibly  attack  the  papal  authority,  they  could,  if  needful,  be  in¬ 
terpreted  to  the  Pope’s  great  disadvantage.  Henry,  however,  was 

1  Convocation,  the  representative  assembly  of  the  clergy. 


HENRY  VIII  AND  THE  CHURCH 


207 


not  satisfied  even  with  this,  and  later  the  convocations  were  forced 
to  sign  a  “Submission  of  the  Clergy,”  by  which  they  agreed  not 
to  meet  in  convocation,  or  pass  any  canons'  except  by  the  king’s 
permission  (1532). 

240.  “Annates”  held  back,  1532;  Cranmer  Archbishop, 
1533.  —  Henry  now  felt  himself  in  a  favorable  position  to  deal  with 
the  Pope,  though  he  had  no  wish  to  come  into  unnecessary  con¬ 
flict  with  him,  and  so  when  Parliament  passed  an  act  requiring 
the  bishops  to  hold  back  the  “  Annates,”  or  “  first  fruits,”  as  they 
were  called,  which  were  annually  sent  to  Rome,  he  did  not  sign 
the  bill  until  he  was  satisfied  that  Pope  Clement  would  not  give 
his  sanction  to  the  divorce  of  Catherine.  Henry  also  secured 
from  Parliament  the  declaration  that  no  appeals  should  be  made  to 
outside  authority,  a  proceeding  which  was  in  accord  with  the 
popular  feeling.  Henry  could  now  do  as  he  pleased.  Meantime 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  (William  Warham)  had  died,  and 
Henry  had  appointed  Thomas  Cranmer  in  his  place  (1533). 
Cranmer  was  of  good  family  and  had  great  intellectual  ability,  but 
was  inclined  to  yield  to  a  stronger  will,  a  fact  which  justly  laid 
him  open  to  the  charge  of  vacillating  conduct. 

241.  Henry  marries  Anne  Boleyn.  1533  (?).  —  Henry  him¬ 
self  ended  the  long  struggle  by  a  secret  marriage  with  Anne 
Boleyn.^  In  1533  Convocation  was  practically  forced  to  declare 
that  Henry’s  marriage  with  Catherine  was  illegal,  and  so  when  the 
question  came  before  Cranmer,  sitting  in  his  episcopal  court,  he 
pronounced  that  marriage  void.  The  secret  marriage  with  Anne 
Boleyn  was  then  announced,  and  on  June  i,  1533,  she  was  crowned 
queen  by  Cranmer  in  great  state  in  Westminster  Abbey.  Parlia¬ 
ment  also  passed  an  act  fixing  the  succession  on  the  children  of 
Anne,  and  disinheriting  Mary,  the  daughter  of  Catherine.  On 

1  Ecclesiastical  laws. 

2  The  date  is  uncertain,  some  think  it  was  in  November,  1532,  others  in  Janu¬ 
ary,  1533.  Anne  was  the  daughter  of  Sir  Thomas  Boleyn,  and  was  born  in  1507. 
She  was  therefore  about  twenty-six  years  old,  and  Henry  about  forty-two. 


2o8 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


September  7,  1533,  Anne  gave  birth  to  a  daughter,  who  lived  to  be 
the  renowned  Queen  Elizabeth. 

242.  Act  of  Supremacy;  Final  Break  with  Rome.  1534. — 
Meantime  Pope  Clement  had  declared  the  marriage  with  Catherine 
legal,  and  threatened  Henry  with  excommunication  if  he  did  not 
take  her  back.  As  there  was  no  hope  of  influencing  the  Pope, 
Henry  determined  to  break  definitely  with  Rome.  He  accordingly 
secured  from  his  subservient  Parliament  a  succession  of  acts,  includ¬ 
ing  the  great  Act  of  Supremacy,'  which  completed  the  separation. 

For  the  most  part  this  legislation  was  received  by  the  people 
without  any  especial  objection.  There  was  for  them  little  prac¬ 
tical  alteration  in  the  substitution  of  the  king  for  the  Pope,  and 
no  change  was  made  in  the  doctrines  to  which  they  w-ere  accus¬ 
tomed.  There  were,  however,  many  to  whom  the  change  meant 
much.  The  Carthusian  monks  of  London  dared  to  make  a  pro¬ 
test,  and  twelve  of  them  were  put  to  death  as  a  warning  to  others.^ 

243.  Execution  of  Sir  Thomas  More  and  Bishop  Fisher. 
1535. —  The  noblest  victim  of  the  new  regime  was  Sir  Thomas 
More,  the  Oxford  reformer,  the  exemplar  of  the  new  learning. 
He  had  been  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  on  the  fall 
of  Wolsey  had  been  made  Chancellor  of  the  Kingdom,  an  office 
which  he  had  resigned  just  before  Henry  began  his  attack  on  the 
church.  Sir  Thomas  More  and  John  Fisher,  Bishop  of  Rochester, 
both  of  whom  had  formerly  been  personal  friends  of  the  king, 
would  not  take  the  oath  of  succession  because  it  involved  the 
acknowledgment  of  the  illegality  of  Catherine’s  marriage.  They 
offered  to  take  any  oath  regarding  the  succession  Parliament  might 

1  The  Act  of  Supremacy  (1534)  declared  "  that  the  king  our  sovereign  lord,  his 
heirs  and  successors,  kings  of  this  realm,  shall  be  taken,  accepted,  and  reputed  the 
only  supreme  head  on  earth  of  the  Church  of  England,  called  Anglicana  Ecclesia, 
.  .  and  shall  have  “  full  power  to  repress,  redress,  reform,  order,  correct,  restrain, 
and  amend  all  such  errors,  heresies,  abuses,  contempts,  and  enormities,  whatso¬ 
ever  they  may  be,  .  .  .  any  usage,  custom,  foreign  authority,  prescription,  or  any 
other  thing ‘or  things  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.” 

2  Three  of  them  were  hanged,  the  rest  were  "  chained  to  posts  in  a  noisome 
dungeon  where  they  were  left  to  perish  of  jail  fever  and  starvation." 


HENRY  VIII  AND  THE  CHURCH 


209 


require,  provided  the  question  of  the  marriage  was  omitted,  but 
this  being  the  important  point  in  Henry’s  mind,  he  imprisoned  the 
two  men  in  the  Tower.  In  1535,  on  their  refusal  to  acknowledge 
the  Act  of  Supremacy, 
they  were  executed,  and 
their  heads  were  set  up 
on  London  Bridge. 

FisReniad'  been  the 
father  confessor  of  Lady 
Margaret  Beaufort,  the 
mother  of  Henry  \TI, 
and  had  been  a  faithful 
follower  of  the  Tudors 
ever  since  that  time.  He 
was  a  scholar  and  a  frieml 
of  the  new  learning ;  he 
was  an  upright  man  and 
one  whose  influence  had 
always  been  for  righteous¬ 
ness. 

More  was  perhaps  the 
greatest  ornament  of  Henry’s  reign.  He  was  the  author  of  Utopia, 
and  was  not  only  one  of  the  most  learned  men  of  his  time,  but 
also  a  keen  observer  of  human  nature.  His  ready  wit  did  not  fail 
him  at  the  last.  “  I  pray  you,”  he  said,  as  he  ascended  the  scaffold, 
“  see  me  safe  up,  and  for  my  coming  down  I  will  shift  for  myself.” 
Again,  after  he  laid  his  head  upon  the  block,  he  moved  his  beard 
aside,  saying,  “  Pity  that  should  be  cut  that  has  not  committed 
treason.” ' 

244.  Thomas  Cromwell;  The  Monasteries.  1535.  —  In  1535 
Thomas  Cromwell,  though  a  layman,  was  appointed  Vicar-General 
of  the  kingdom.  Cromwell,  while  a  follower  of  Wolsey,  had  seen 
something  of  the  workings  of  many  of  the  monasteries  throughout 

1  Sir  Thomas  More  was  fifty-seven  years  old,  and  Bishop  Fisher  seventy-six. 


Sir  Thomas  More 


2  10 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


the  country,  but  he  had  probably  seen  their  worst  side.  His  stead¬ 
fast  purpose  to  make  the  king  sole  ruler  could  be  furthered  by  at¬ 
tacking  these  institutions,  and  he  proceeded  to  do  so  without  pity. 
The  monasteries  were  wealthy,  and  Henry  wanted  money ;  where 
could  it  be  obtained  more  easily  than  by  despoiling  them?  It 
was  not  hard  to  persuade  Henry  to  a  course  that  promised  to  be 
his  advantage,  and  he  quickly  fell  in  with  the  idea. 

Cromwell  saw  that  there  must  be  some  apparent  justification 
for  the  radical  measures  which  he  proposed,  and  so  a  commission 
was  sent  out  to  investigate  the  condition  of  the  monasteries  and 
abbeys.  As  might  be  supposed,  a  commission  sent  out  to  dis¬ 
cover  abuses  would  be  very  sure  to  find  them.  The  report  was, 
in  fact,  precisely  what  was  desired.  The  condition  of  the  largest 
institutions  was  reported  as  fairly  good,  but  that  of  the  smaller 
ones  as  very  bad. 

245.  First  Dissolution  of  Monasteries.  1536.  —  Parliament 
accepted  the  report  and  abolished  those  monasteries  possessing 
less  than  a  certain  income.  The  number  thus  suppressed  was 
376;  their  estates  were  confiscated  to  the  crown,  and  the  inmates 
were  allowed  to  choose  between  entering  the  largest  establish¬ 
ments^  or  abandoning  the  monastic  life;  to  those  choosing  the 
latter  course  a  small  pension  was  allowed.  A  special  court  was 
established  to  deal  with  questions  arising  from  this  dissolution  of 
the  monasteries,  as  it  was  called. 

It  is  probably  true  that  in  some  of  the  monasteries  abuses  and 
indolence  did  exist,  but  that  this  condition  was  general  can  hardly 
be  believed.  The  monks  as  a  rule  were  reasonably  easy  landlords, 
and  hospitable  to  the  stranger  and  the  needy.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  monastic  system  had  outlived  its  usefulness  in  England,  and 
had  become  injurious  to  the  country.  Enormous  riches  were 
locked  up  in  the  hands  of  the  abbots,  out  of  the  reach  alike  of 

iThe  establishments  belonged  chiefly  to  monks  of  the  Benedictine,  Cistercian, 
and  Cluniac  orders.  About  two  thousand  monks  and  nuns  were  turned  out,  and 
in  all,  counting  attendants,  about  ten  thousand  people  were  dispossessed  of 
homes  and  employment. 


DISSOLUTION  OF  MONASTERIES 


21  I 


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.  ,  7^  Lichfield+ I  Laimdj.  1 

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•►Cynimer  i  «i. _ i.rT!*Tv  Llchfield  + 


TI  0'wBtoii+CrowUind+  pen»n+'’+ 

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Breck»o«b  „,„t,  ^  T 

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Aihelnejr.p  Bruton  ^ Salisbury  +  Winchester 

u.otUn^  TauBloa+  4.ShalVibnrT+  Brenmore  +  R^mseT  -. 

Murbeloey  +  +  Sberbome'*’ Tilobfleld+ ♦  Souihwiok  1^"®® 
*•''  r„tl  "”.a“  +  +T.rr.»t  4>i,S~S,..+  _ 

fiS».  Tavlstock+  Buckfaatlelgh  ^4^0^ 

BoAniin+  Buohlatxlf.  +  *4>p«i- 


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m,  11-+^  +  ^  bhry 

Mailing  Leeds  %  A 

Robertsbrldge 


English  Monasteries  (Iissolved  by  Henry  VIII 


the  state  and  of  the  community ;  a  large  number  of  men  kept 
in  seclusion  were  of  little  advantage  to  themselves  or  to  anybody 
else ;  furthermore,  the  abbeys  and  monasteries  were  no  longer 
centers  of  learning  and  schools  of  industry,  as  they  had  been  three 
centuries  earlier.  Had  Henry  and  Cromwell  based  their  action  on 
the  comparative  uselessness  of  the  monasteries  and  the  hindrance 


212 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


they  were  to  the  development  of  the  countrj',  and  had  they  taken 
measures  to  dissolve  them  in  a  just  manner,  providing  systematically 
for  the  support  of  the  dispossessed  monks  during  life,  they  would 
have  acted  more  nearly  in  accordance  with  fairness  and  honesty. 

246.  Second  Dissolution  of  Monasteries  begun,  1538;  Economic 
and  Political  Effects.  ■ — •  The  dissolution  of  the  larger  monasteries 
was  begun  in  1538  ;  some  abbots  were  persuaded  to  surrender 
their  buildings  and  property  on  the  promise  of  grants  for  their 
maintenance,  for  they  knew  that  refusal  meant  loss  of  everything ; 
but  others  stood  out.  In  1539  Parliament  passed  an  act  dissolving 
all  monasteries.^  Abbots  who  resisted  were  hanged  without  mercy, 
buildings  were  torn  down,  and  the  lead,  glass,  and  stone  sold  for 
building  materials ;  shrines  were  despoiled  of  gold  and  jewels, 
graves  were  ransacked,  and  even  libraries  were  destroyed.  Among 
the  shrines  thus  despoiled  was  that  of  St.  Thomas  a  Becket  at 
Canterbury,  the  richest  and  most  popular  in  England.^  By  1540 
it  is  estimated  that  eight  thousand  persons  belonging  to  establish¬ 
ments  had  been  turned  adrift,  and  ten  times  as  many  thrown  out 
of  employment.  The  wealth  thus  acquired  was  applied  mainly  in 
such  a  way  as  to  benefit  Henry,  and  that  it  was  shrewdly  distributed 
was  shown  at  a  later  date.  Part  of  it  went  to  establish  new 
bishoprics,  and  a  few  grammar  schools  a  part  was  spent  in  forti¬ 
fications  on  the  seacoast ;  a  part  was  turned  into  the  royal  treasury, 
and  large  sums  were  bestowed  on  men  whom  Henry  had  called 
around  him  to  form  a  new  nobility^  which  would  be  friendly  to  him 
and  be  a  set-off  against  such  of  the  old  nobility  as  had  survived  the 
Wars  of  the  Roses.  Of  the  land  belonging  to  the  monasteries  a 
large  part  was  sold  to  the  small  landholders  near  the  monasteries 

1  The  total  number  of  religious  establishments  of  all  kinds,  large  and  small, 
which  were  suppressed  has  been  stated  at  3219,  with  an  annual  income  at  present 
values  of  about  $  10,000,000. 

2  The  bones  of  the  martyr  were  taken  from  the  shiine,  burnt,  and  then  scattered 
abroad. 

3  These  foundations  were  little  more  than  a  blind  to  turn  attention  from  the  real 
facts. 

*  Among  these  were  the  Cecils,  Cavendishes,  Dudleys,  Russells,  and  Seymours. 


ECONOMIC  AND  POLITICAL  EFFECTS 


213 


at  low  prices.  To  such  an  extent  was  this  done  that  when,  in  the 
reign  of  Mary,  a  proposition  was  made  to  restore  the  monasteries, 
it  was  said  that  more  than  twenty  thousand  families  protested 
against  the  scheme,  and  so  it  had  to  be  abandoned  (§  271). 

The  change  of  ownership  brought  about  a  decided  change  in  the 
method  of  renting  the  land.  Under  the  monasteries  the  whole  or 
part  of  the  stock  on  a  farm  was  leased  with  the  land  ;  the  new 
owners  sold  the  stock,  and  raised  the  money  rent.  The  result 
was  that  the  poorer  tenants  were  almost  ruined.  From  this  date 
pauperism  increased,  and  so,  as  there  were  no  monasteries  to  give 
relief,  it  had  to  be  provided  by  the  state  or  local  authorities. 

An  important  political  result  of  Henry’s  action  was  the  removal 
of  the  abbots  from  the  House  of  Lords.  This  greatly  diminished 
not  only  the  size  of  that  house,  but,  what  was  of  more  importance, 
the  influence  of  the  church  in  it ;  the  royal  power,  by  control  of 
elections  to  the  lower  house,  was  also  increased,  and  from  that  time 
to  this  the  lay  members  have  always  been  largely  in  the  majority. 
The  political  revolt  from  Rome  was  at  last  fully  accomplished. 

247.  Pilgrimage  of  Grace.  1536-1537.  —  That  the  radical 
measures  of  Henry  and  his  prime  minister  should  arouse  oppo¬ 
sition  was  to  be  expected,  and  various  symptoms  of  unrest  showed 
themselves.  In  1536  there  was  a  rising  in  some  of  the  northern 
counties,  which  were  more  strongly  Catholic  in  their  sympathies 
than  were  those  in  the  south.  It  was  a  protest  against  the  anti- 
Catholic  movements  and  legislation,  especially  the  dissolution 
of  the  monasteries.  In  addition  there  were,  as  the  result  of  a 
period  of  change,  social  and  economic  reasons  for  the  rising,  such 
as  land  enclosures,  the  enforced  removal  of  many  suits  at  law  to 
Westminster,  and  other  grievances.  There  was  no  talk  of  over¬ 
turning  established  institutions,  or  the  king,  or  Parliament.  In 
fact  it  was  a  desire  to  return  to  the  old  ways.  This  rebellion  was 
called  the  “  pilgrimage  of  Grace,”  ^  and  was  marked  by  wonder- 

1  "  Pilgrimage  of  Grace,”  so  called  because  the  malcontents  declared  they  would 
go  on  a  pilgrimage  to  the  king  at  London  to  state  their  grievances. 


214 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


fully  few  outrages,  considering  the  times  and  the  ignorance  of 
the  common  people  who  took  part  in  it. 

Henry  sent  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  to  quell  the  rising.  He  made 
terms  with  the  malcontents,  promising,  on  the  king’s  behalf,  redress 
of  certain  grievances.  The  insurgents  dispersed,  but  later  (1537) 
risings  took  place  in  other  places,  and  believing  they  had  been 
deceived,  those  who  had  yielded  to  Norfolk  rose  again.  This 
time  Henry,  who  possibly  did  not  intend  to  keep  his  former  prom¬ 
ises,  had  no  mercy.  He  sent  orders  to  Norfolk  to  execute  a  suffi 
cient  number  of  the  rebels  thoroughly  to  intimidate  the  others. 
All  classes,  from  the  poorest  peasants  to  great  nobles  and  church¬ 
men,  had  taken  part  in  this  uprising,  and  the  punishment  fell 
heavily  upon  all.  This  rising  also  brought  about  a  political  change 
in  the  north,  for  heretofore  the  northern  counties  of  Northumber¬ 
land,  Cumberland,  Westmoreland,  Durham,  and  York  had  not 
been  technically  incorporated  with  England,  but  had  been  largely 
under  the  control  of  powerful  barons.  Now  Henry  organized  the 
Council  of  the  North,  under  whose  control  he  placed  this  district.' 

248.  Death  of  Catherine;  Execution  of  Anne  Boleyn,  1536; 
Jane  Seymour;  Prince  Edward,  1537.  —  Meantime  two  important 
events  had  occurred.  Catherine  of  Aragon,  the  unfortunate 
divorced  wife  of  Henry,  died  early  in  1536.  Henry  by  this  time 
had  become  tired  of  Anne  Boleyn  and  wished  to  get  rid  of  her. 
She  was  accordingly  accused  of  gross  immorality,  was  tried  by  a 
court  of  peers  over  which  her  own  uncle  presided,  and  though  she 
strenuously  denied  the  charges,  she  was  pronounced  guilty  and 
was  beheaded.^  Anne  was  executed  (May  19,  1536),  and  the  fol¬ 
lowing  day  Henry  married  Jane  Seymour.  The  next  year  a  son, 

1  There  was  already  a  system  of  councils,  but  Henry  so  reorganized  its  powers 
that  the  Council  of  the  North  was  practically  a  new  body.  It  lasted  until  the  Civil 
War,  1641  (§  369). 

2  There  is  no  doubt  that  Anne  was  indiscreet  in  her  conduct,  and  that  she  was 
arrogant,  apd  even  insolent,  but  that  she  was  guilty  of  the  crimes  of  which  she  was 
accused  can  scarcely  be  believed.  In  her  trial  no  witnesses  were  summoned 
against  her,  nor  did  sTie  have  any  counsel  for  her  defense.  All  her  alleged  partners 
in  guilt  denied  the  charges,  except  one,  and  he  confessed  only  under  torture. 


HENRY  VlirS  MARRIAGES 


215 


afterwards  Edward  VI,  was  born,  and  Henry  had  at  last  the  heir 
so  long  wished  for,  but  unfortunately  Jane  died  a  few  days  after 
the  birth  of  her  son.  About  Edward’s  right  to  succeed  there 
could  be  no  question,  for  both  Catherine  and  Anne  were  dead 
before  his  father’s  marriage  to  Jane  Seymour.' 

249.  Ten  Articles  of  Religion.  1536.  —  The  break  with  Rome 
was  followed  by  results  that  were  far-reaching.  Neither  Henry 
nor  his  advisers,  not  even  Cromwell  himself,  could  have  expected 
such  great  changes  as  quickly  came  after  the  rupture  with  Rome. 
While  Henry’s  personal  interests  had  much  influence,  there  were 
other  forces  at  work  at  the  same  time.  The  great  movement 
known  as  the  Protestant  Reformation,  which  was  taking  place  on 
the  continent  of  Europe  under  Luther  and  his  supporters,  had  its 
effect;  the  new  learning  made  many  thoughtful  men  unwilling  to 
accept  doctrines  on  simple  authority ;  and,  moreover,  the  prevail¬ 
ing  feeling  of  the  day  was  one  of  restlessness  and  discontent.  In 
the  eventful  year  1536  the  English  clergy,  recognizing  the  growing 
dissatisfaction  in  regard  to  the  church,  had  in  convocation  drawn 
up  and  published  ten  articles.  In  these  it  was  stated  among  other 
things  that  the  Bible  and  the  three  creeds  —  the  Apostles’,  the 
Nicene,  and  the  Athanasian  —  were  the  sole  authority  for  matters 
of  faith. 

250.  Tyndale’s  Bible,  1526;  Coverdale’s,  1538.  —  The  natural 
result  of  referring  to  the  Bible  as  authority  was  to  create  a  demand 
for  copies  of  the  book.  An  English  translation  had  been  made  by 
William  Tyndale  several  years  before  this  time,  but  Henry  himself 
had  prohibited  its  use.  Now  he  authorized  a  revision  of  this 
translation  by  Miles  Coverdale,  and  in  1538  ordered  that  a  copy 
should  be  placed  in  every  parish  church. 

William  Tyndale  had  been  a  student  at  Oxford  and  at  Cam¬ 
bridge,  and  had  been  deeply  stirred  by  the  Greek  New  Testament 

1  The  suspicious  king  could  not  rest  satisfied  after  his  marriage  to  Jane  Sey¬ 
mour,  but  obtained  an  act  from  his  ready  Parliament  fixing  the  succession  to  the 
crown  in  Jane’s  children,  and  declaring  also  that  Mary  and  Elizabeth  were  illegiti¬ 
mate. 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


216 


which  had  been  issued  by  Erasmus  (1516).  From  that  time  Tyn- 
dale  had  one  thought  closely  at  heart.  “  If  God  spares  my  life,”  he 

said  to  a  noted  churchman, 
“  I  will  cause  a  boy  that 
driveth  the  plow  shall  know 
more  of  Scripture  than  thou 
dost.”  Tyndale’s  first  transla¬ 
tion  of  the  Bible,  which  was 
introduced  into  England  in 
1526,  was  denounced  as  he¬ 
retical.  A  pile  of  these  Prot¬ 
estant  books  was  burned  be¬ 
fore  Wolsey  in  St.  Paul’s 
churchyard ;  but  in  spite  of 
royal  decrees,  copies  of  Tyn¬ 
dale’s  translation  were  circu¬ 
lated  throughout  England  and 
eagerly  studied  by  persons  of 
all  classes.  Coverdale’s  re¬ 
vision’  and  the  king’s  sanction 
brought  the  book  into  still 
greater  prominence  and  favor, 
but  it  was  too  late  for  its 
author  to  see  his  dream  come 
true.  After  years  of  persecution  on  the  Continent,  whither  he  had 
gone  to  continue  his  work,  Tyndale  was  imprisoned  for  heresy 
and  cruelly  put  to  death  in  1536. 

251.  Religious  Reaction;  The  Six  Articles  of  Faith,  1539; 
Plot  against  Henry.  —  All  this  agitation  led  to  some  reaction,  and 
so  when  the  Parliament  came  together  in  1539  a  movement  was 


Chained  Bible  in  the  Church  of 
St.  Crux,  York 


1  On  the  title-page  of  what  was  really  a  revised  edition  in  1539,  known  as  the 
Great  Bible,  there  is  a  woodcut,  thought  to  be  designed  by  the  great  artist  Holbein, 
representing  Henry  seated  on  his  throne  and  giving  the  Bible  with  his  right  hand 
to  the  clergy  and  with  his  left  hand  to  the  laity.  Thus  Henry  is  represented  as  tak¬ 
ing  the  place  of  the  Pope. 


RELIGIOUS  REACTION 


2  I  7 

made  to  check,  if  not  to  control,  the  tendency  toward  Protestant¬ 
ism.  Accordingly  six  Articles  of  Faith  were  drawn  up,  setting 
forth  doctrines  which  must  not  be  called  into  question,  and  severe 
penalties  for  their  violation  were  prescribed.  These  represented 
the  conservative  element.  On  the  whole  the  convictions  under 
these  articles  were  comparatively  few,  as  both  Cromwell  and 
Cranmer  disapproved  of  them  and  had  opposed  their  adoption. 

Henry  was  not  exempt  from  plots  to  dispossess  him  of  the 
throne.  The  line  of  Edward  IV  was  extinct,  and  a  conspiracy,  in 
which  the  exiled  Reginald  Pole  ^  and  other  members  of  the  family 
were  concerned,  was  discovered  in  1538.  Henry,  like  all  the 
Tudors,  was  relentless  where  personal  interests  were  in  question. 
He  caused  two  of  the  leaders  in  the  plot  to  be  beheaded  and  the 
aged  Countess  of  Salisbury  to  be  confined  in  the  Tower.  Two 
years  later  she  was  executed  (1541).  The  character  of  the  plot 
and  the  evidence  against  the  conspirators  are  but  little  known. 

252.  Cromwell’s  Loss  of  Prestige  ;  Anne  of  Cleves.  1539-1540. 
—  Henry’s  quarrel  with  Rome  had  not  been  due  to  religious  con¬ 
viction,  but  to  religious  expediency,  and  to  a  determination  to 
have  his  own  way.  He  did  not  share  Cromwell’s  leaning  toward 
Protestantism,  and  he  was  quite  willing  to  let  the  church  remain 
as  it  had  been,  j)rovided  his  own  authority  could  be  substituted 
for  that  of  the  Pope.  With  this  point  of  view  many  Englishmen 
were  ready  to  agree. 

There  had  always  been  more  or  less  jealousy  of  Cromwell’s 
political  influence.  His  interest  in  Protestantism  now  led  him  to 
attempt  an  alliance  against  the  Emperor,  Charles  V.  To  further 
this  end  he  brought  about  a  marriage  between  Henry  and  Anne  of 
Cleves,  a  German  princess,  whom  the  king  had  never  seen.  When 
his  bride  was  presented  to  him  Henry  was  greatly  disappointed  in 
her  appearance,  and,  though  the  marriage  was  celebrated,  it  was 

1  Reginald  Pole  was  the  son  of  Margaret,  Countess  of  Salisbury,  a  niece  of 
Edward  IV.  Reginald  Pole  became  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  under  Mary 
(§§  278.  283). 


2i8 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


almost  immediately  annulled.  Cromwell’s  influence  with  the  king 
had  suffered  a  fatal  blow. 

253.  Fall  of  Cromwell.  1540.  —  Meantime,  even  before  the 
marriage  with  Anne,  the  main  object  of  an  alliance  —  a  league 
against  Charles  —  had  been  made  unattainable  by  the  temporary 
reconciliation  of  the  Emperor  with  Francis  and  some  of  the 
Protestant  princes.  Cromwell  had  thus  failed  in  his  policy  as 
well  as  in  his  plans  regarding  the  king’s  marriage.  Henry  vented 
his  wrath  upon  his  prime  minister.  Many  of  the  nobility  hated 
the  “  upstart,”  and  carried  out  their  share  in  his  punishment  with 
pleasure.  Within  a  week  after  the  divorce  of  Anne,  a  bill  of  at¬ 
tainder  against  Cromwell  was  passed  by  Parliament,  and  without 
having  been  given  the  opportunity  to  speak  a  word  in  his  own 
defense,  he  was  executed  (July  28,  1540). 

Severe  as  Cromwell  was,  and  questionable  as  not  a  few  of  his  acts 
had  been,  he  either  carried  out  or  confirmed  three  revolutionary 
changes  in  England,  which  were  :  (i)  reform  in  the  Church  of 
England ;  (2)  putting  an  end  to  the  power  of  the  Pope  in  Eng¬ 
land  ;  (3)  and  transferring  the  power  which  had  formerly  belonged 
to  the  Pope  to  the  English  crown.  All  this  had  been  accomplished 
without  war  either  at  home  or  abroad,  a  result  which  no  other 
nation  of  that  period  was  able  to  attain. 

254.  Henry  rules  Alone ;  Catherine  Howard  and  Catherine 
Parr.  —  For  the  rest  of  his  reign  Henry  ruled  without  any  prime 
minister.  In  the  year  of  Cromwell’s  downfall  (1540)  Henry  mar¬ 
ried  his  fifth  wife,  Catherine  Howard,  a  cousin  of  Anne  Boleyn. 
Before  two  years  had  passed  Henry  discovered  that  she  had  been 
guilty  of  improper  conduct  before  her  marriage,  and  by  a  bill  of 
attainder  she  was  condemned,  and  afterwards  beheaded.  The  next 
year  (1542)  Henry  married  his  sixth  and  last  wife,  Catherine 
Parr,  a  young  widow,  who  managed  to  outlive  him.^ 

1  The 'following  lines  serve  to  tell  the  story  of  the  fate  of  Henry’s  wives  :  — 

“  Divorced,  beheaded,  died, 

Divorced,  beheaded,  survived.” 


HENRY  VIII  AND  IRELAND 


219 


255.  Henry  VIII  and  Ireland.  —  In  addition  to  the  dangers 
threatening  Henry  from  the  Continent,  he  was  always  liable  to 
attacks  from  Ireland  and  Scotland,  and  also  to  domestic  irrita¬ 
tions  stirred  up  from  time  to  time  by  his  continental  enemies. 
Ireland  was  in  about  the  same  condition  as  it  had  been  under 
Henry’s  predecessors.  Beyond  the  English  Pale  (§§  168,  181), 


2  20 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


the  native  chiefs,  with  no  idea  of  union  for  common  benefit, 
fought  among  themselves,  and  were  also  always  ready  to  aid 
France  or  Scotland,  as  the  case  might  be.  The  House  of  York 
had  been  popular  in  Ireland,  and  it  will  be  remembered  that  both 
Warbeck  and  Simnel  (§  216)  had  found  support  there.  After  the 
era  of  Sir  Edward  Poynings  aud  the  passage  of  the  Poynings  Acts 
(§  217)  there  was  comparative  quiet  for  a  time,  but  the  normal 
condition  of  unrest  soon  returned.  There  were  endless  quarrels 
between  the  Butlers,  w'ho  were  headed  by  the  Earl  of  Ormonde, 
and  the  Geraldines  or  Fitzgeralds,  who  were  led  by  the  Earls  of 
Kildare  and  Desmond.  Several  attempts  had  been  made  to 
preserve  order,  but  these  had  been  failures,  partly  because  no 
systematic  policy  was  followed,  and  partly  because  of  the  willful 
misunderstanding  of  the  Irish  character,  or  the  ignoring  of  it. 

In  1533  a  rebellion  broke  out,  headed  by  a  Lord  Thomas 
Fitzgerald.  After  considerable  difficulty  this  was  put  down,  and 
the  leader  and  five  of  his  uncles  were  hanged  as  traitors.  An 
attempt  was  now  made  to  force  reformatory  measures  in  the 
church  of  Ireland.  It  is  likely  that  the  upper  classes  cared  little 
about  the  matter,  but  the  great  mass  of  the  population  were 
strongly  Catholic  and  deeply  resented  the  measures  which  were 
taken.  Nearly  everything  that  had  occurred  in  England  was  re¬ 
peated  in  Ireland.  Monasteries  were  broken  up  and  their  prop¬ 
erty  seized ;  shrines  were  despoiled  and  their  ornaments  and 
wealth  carried  off ;  relics  and  images,  which  were  regarded  with 
veneration  by  the  people,  were  ruthlessly  destroyed  ;  and  English- 
speaking  priests  were  placed  in  charge  of  the  churches.  These 
proceedings  were  not  confined  to  the  Pale,  but  wherever  practi¬ 
cable  were  forced  upon  the  Irish  outside.  The  result  was  that  a 
vast  amount  of  ill  feeling  was  needlessly  and  cruelly  stirred  up. 

By  a  Parliament  held  in  Dublin  (1542)  Henry  was  acknowledged 
to  be  king  of  Ireland  ;  hitherto  he  had  borne  the  title  Lord  of 
Ireland,  which  had  been  granted  to  Henry  H  by  Pope  Adrian  IV 
(1154)  (§  70).  The  new  title  showed  his  independence  of  the 


HENRY  VIII  AND  SCOTLAND 


221 


Pope.  This  Irish  Parliament  is  interesting,  as  it  was  the  first  in 
which  the  native  chiefs  took  part.  Henry  gave  these  chiefs  Eng¬ 
lish  titles,  and  tried  to  gain  their  support  by  bestowing  on  them 
the  spoils  of  the  monasteries,  and  he  succeeded  in  keeping  them 
quiet  for  the  few  remaining  years  of  his  reign. 

256.  Henry  VIII  and  Scotland. —The  plan  of  Henry  VH  in 
marrying  his  eldest  daughter,  Margaret,  to  James  IV  (§  222)  had 
not  proved  very  successful  in  bringing  about  a  better  feeling 
between  England  and  Scotland.  James  V  during  his  minority 
had  been  much  under  the  influence  of  the  French  party  in  Scot¬ 
land.  They  were  friendly  to  the  clergy,  who  were  bitterly  opposed 
to  the  reforming  policy  of  Henry  VHI.  The  consequence  was 
that  the  young  king  joined  the  French  party  and  married,  first, 
Magdalen,  daughter  of  the  French  king,  then,  after  her  early  death, 
Mary  of  Guise,  a  member  of  a  powerful  family  in  France.  Henry’s 
overtures  of  friendship  to  James  were  not  kindly  received.  Shortly 
after  the  death  of  Cromwell,  England’s  relations  with  France 
became  greatly  strained,  and  Henry,  conscious  that  he  might  be 
attacked  from  Scotland,  determined  to  anticipate  the  blow  and 
strike  himself.  In  1542  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  crossed  the  border 
and  ravaged  the  Scottish  lands.  An  army  which  James  sent  under 
an  incompetent  general  against  Norfolk  was  terribly  defeated  at 
Solway  Moss,  and  for  a  time  the  danger  from  Scotland  was 
removed.  James  V  was  so  distressed  at  the  tidings  of  defeat  that 
he  was  seized  with  illness  and  died.  A  few  days  before  his  death 
word  was  brought  to  him  that  his  wife  had  given  birth  to  a  daugh¬ 
ter.  “Ah,”  he  said,  thinking  of  the  Scottish  crown,  “it  came 
with  a  lass,  and  it  will  go  with  a  lass.”  *  This  daughter  was  she 
who  is  known  the  world  over  as  Mary  Queen  of  Scots. 

257.  Henry  VIII  and  France.  1543-1546. —  In  1543  the  long- 
looked  for  war  with  France  broke  out.  Henry  had  made  friends 

1  Marjory,  daugtifer  of  Robert  Bruce  I,  married  Walter  Stuart;  her  son,  Robert 
It  (1371-1390),  brought  the  crown  of  Scotland  into  the  Stuart  family.  See  genea¬ 
logical  table,  page  135. 


222 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


again  with  the  Emperor  Charles  V,  who  did  not  let  Henry’s  treat¬ 
ment  of  his  aunt,  Catherine  of  Aragon,  stand  in  the  way  when  any¬ 
thing  was  to  be  gained.  Henry  sent  troops  to  aid  Charles  and 
himself  took  the  field  against  Boulogne.  Charles,  finding  it  to  his 
advantage  to  make  peace  with  France,  deserted  Henry  and  left 
him  to  fight  his  battles  alone.  The  English  king  was  successful  in 
taking  and  holding  Boulogne,  which  enabled  him  to  make  better 
terms  than  would  otherwise  have  been  possible.  The  useless  war 
came  to  an  end  in  1546. 

258.  Domestic  Affairs.  —  Henry  nbw  turned  his  attention  to 
home  affairs.  The  war  had  been  expensive  and  the  finances  of 
the  country  were  in  a  bad  way.  When  Henry  ascended  the  throne, 
he  was  free  from  debt  and  wealthy,  but  the  vast  stores  accumu¬ 
lated  by  his  father,  Henry  VI I,  had  all  been  squandered,  together 
with  the  wealth  acquired  by  the  dissolution  of  the  monasteries  and 
the  spoliation  of  the  church.  Henry  had  to  do  something  and 
he  was  ready  to  do  almost  anything.  Parliament  relieved  him 
from  the  necessity  of  paying  a  loan  which  had  been  contracted 
some  time  before  ;  a  benevolence  levied  in  r545  helped  him  some¬ 
what  ;  but  to  benefit  himself  still  further  he  followed  the  dangerous 
plan  of  debasing  the  coinage.'  Twice  he  reduced  the  amount  of 
silver  in  the  coins,  and  paid  his  debts  with  the  money  of  the 
same  nominal  value,  but  really  of  much  less  worth.  The  result  on 
the  business  of  the  country  was  disastrous,  as  such  expedients 
must  always  be,  though  the  full  effect  was  not  felt  for  some  time. 
The  cost  of  the  necessities  of  life  more  than  doubled,  while  wages 
increased  little  more  than  half,  thus  making  a  heavy  burden  fall 
on  the  working  classes,  who  were  least  able  to  bear  it.  The  effects 
of  the  debasing  of  the  coinage  also  fell  heavily  on  the  landowners, 
and  on  the  commercial  class  as  well,  for  the  continental  mer¬ 
chants  would  not  take  the  debased  English  coins  in  payment 
for  goods  or  in  settlement  of  debts. 

1  Henry  reduced  the  value  of  the  coins  more  than  one  half.  The  full  value  of  the 
coinage  was  not  restored  until  the  reign  of  Elizabeth. 


RIVAL  PARTIES  IN  THE  STATE 


223 


259.  An  English  Prayer  Book;  Rival  Parties;  Death  of 
Henry.  1547.  —  Meantime  there  had  been  a  reaction  in  religious 
matters,  and  in  1543  Bishop  Gardiner  had  forbidden  the  reading 
of  the  Bible  to  “  husbandmen,  artificers,  and  journeymen,  and  to 
all  women  except  gentlewomen.”  In  1544  Archbishop  Cranmer,  in 
directing  prayers  to  be  offered  for  Henry  and  the  English  armies  be¬ 
fore  Boulogne,  ordered  that  they  should  be  said  in  English  so  that  all 
might  understand  them.  In  the  same  year  he  composed  in  English 
that  part  of  the  church  service  known  as  the  Litany,  and  he  also 
issued  a  small  book  of  private  prayer  in  English.  These  were  the 
foundation  of  what  is  now  known  as  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 

There  were  two  parties  in  the  state  —  the  conservative,  headed 
by  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  his  son  Henry  Howard,  the  poet,  and 
Bishop  Gardiner ;  and  the  radical,  or  Protestant,  headed  by 
Edward  Seymour,  Earl  of  Hertford,  brother  of  Queen  Jane 
Seymour,  and  by  John  Dudley.  The  latter  party  was  supported 
by  Archbishop  Cranmer. 

Henry’s  health  had  been  failing  for  some  time ;  he  had  grown 
extremely  stout,  and  so  weak  that  he  was  not  able  even  to  sign 
his  name,  but  was  compelled  to  use  a  stamp  in  signing  documents. 
As  Henry  felt  his  life  drawing  to  a  close  he  wished  to  make  the 
succession  of  his  son  as  secure  as  possible,  and  believing  that  the 
interests  of  the  little  king  would  be  safest  in  the  hands  of  his 
uncle,  Edward  Seymour,  resolved  to  put  the  other  claimants  to 
the  throne  out  of  the  way.  The  Duke  of  Norfolk  and  his  son, 
Henry  Howard,  Earl  of  Surrey,^  were  arrested  on  a  charge  of 
treason,  and  the  earl  was  executed ;  his  father  was  to  have  been 
executed  the  next  week,  but  Henry  died  before  he  could  sign  the 
bill  of  attainder,  and  the  dukg  remained  in  prison. 

1  Surrey  in  addition  to  some  frivolous  charges  was  accused  of  quartering  the 
royal  arms  on  his  shield.  This  he  had  a  right  to  do,  as  he  was  undoubtedly  of 
royal  descent,  but  his  action  was  exceedingly  ill-advised  under  such  a  king  as 
Henry.  Surrey  was  a  highly  educated  man  and  one  of  England’s  truest  poets. 
He  introduced  blank  verse  into  English  literature,  and  was  one  of  the  earliest 
English  poets  to  use  the  form  of  the  Italian  sonnet. 


224 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


260.  Character  of  Henry  VIII;  His  Achievements.  —  Few 
kings  of  England  have  provoked  more  discussion  than  Henry 
VIII.  For  many  years  the  attention  of  readers  and  students  was 
so  centered  on  his  bad  qualities  and  evil  deeds  that  his  ability 
and  his  real  achievements  were  overlooked.  He  was  coarse, 
hard,  selfish,  revengeful,  false  when  it  suited  his  purpose,  deter¬ 
mined  to  have  his  own  way,  and  unscrupulous  in  attaining  it.  On 
the  other  hand,  he  was  clear-headed,  far-sighted,  courageous,  and 
intelligent ;  in  matters  of  public  interest  he  knew  exactly  what  he 
wanted,  and,  what  was  of  fiir  more  importance,  was  rarely  mis¬ 
taken  in  his  judgment  of  how  far  he  could  go.  He  was,  like  his 
daughter  Elizabeth,  an  admirable  judge  of  public  opinion.  It  is 
this  fact  which  explains  what  would  otherwise  be  so  singular,  that 
until  the  latter  part  of  hjs  reign  he  was  popular. 

Henry  VHI  succeeded  in  almost  everything  he  undertook,  and 
very  much  of  what  he  did,  or  what  was  done  with  his  approval, 
remains.  Among  other  things,  as  has  been  seen,  he  destroyed 
the  monasteries ;  he  severed  England  from  Rome ;  he  set  up  a 
state  church;  he  completed  the  union  between  England  and 
Wales ;  he  helped  to  develop  Parliament. 

More  than  preceding  monarchs  Henry  recognized  the  value  of 
commerce.  He  made  navigation  of  the  great  rivers  free,  suppress¬ 
ing  tolls  and  removing  other  hindrances.  He  improved  the 
harbors,  in  one  instance  at  least,  at  his  own  expense ;  though  he 
did  not  found  the  Royal  Navy,  he  was  the  first  to  organize  it  into 
a  separate  department.  He  encouraged  foreign  trade  and  vigor¬ 
ously  repressed  piracy.  He  built  larger  ships  for  the  navy,  and 
The  Great  Harry,  a  four-master,  finished  in  1515,  was  consid¬ 
ered  a  maritime  wonder.  It  was  in  her  that  Henry  crossed  the 
Channel  to  meet  Francis  I  at  the  Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold 
(§  230). 

While  the  important  social,  religious,  and  political  changes  of 
his  reign  can  only  in  some  measure  be  ascribed  to  him,  yet  it 
must  be  said  that,  had  he  chosen,  he  could  have  postponed  the 


CHARACTER  OF  HENRY  VHI 


225 


progress  of  England  perhaps  for  another  generation.  It  should  be 
remembered  that  Henry  had  no  standing  army,  and,  except  in 
the  case  of  the  Pilgrimage  of  Grace,  that  force  was  not  used  to 
settle  domestic  troubles.  It  was  not  needed  because,  on  the 
whole,  Henry  represented  what  was  the  feeling  of  the  majority 
of  the  people. 

His  success  can  be 
explained  in  no 
other  way. 

Tlie  only  thing 
which  can  be  said 
for  Henry  on  the 
moral  side  is,  that 
we  have  no  reason 
to  suppose  that  he 
was  much  worse 
than  his  contem¬ 
poraries.  He  did 
openly  what  others 
did  secretly.  The 
peculiar  circum¬ 
stances  of  his  posi¬ 
tion  brought  his 
vices  into  light  and 
kept  them  there,  while  those  of  others  were  excused  or  ignored, 
and  have  been  forgotten. 

The  rule  of  the  age  was  not  principle  or  religion,  but  expe¬ 
diency.  This  governed  everything  in  the  state,  and  to  a  very 
large  extent  in  the  church,  also.  When  this  fact  is  understood, 
many  things  become  clear.  Henry  was  no  better  than  his  age, 
and  expediency  and  pleasure  ruled  his  life.  But  after  all  has 
been  said  that  can  be  said,  Henry  remains  one  of  the  most 
immoral  kings  that  England  has  known.' 

1  William  Rufus,  John,  and  Charles  II  probably  were  worse  than  he. 


After  an  old  print 


226 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


261.  The  English  Reformation;  the  Succession.  —  In  Henry’s 
reign  was  accomplished  the  break  from  Rome  known  as  the  English 
Reformation.^  This  movement,  of  such  great  import  to  England, 
differed  greatly  from  similar  movements  on  the  Continent.  “  It  was 
from  above,  not  from  below ;  royal,  not  popular ;  political,  not 
doctrinal ;  gradual,  not  revolutionary.”  It  was  part  of  Henry’s 
policy  of  expediency.  One  result  of  the  course  in  England  was 
that  the  terrible  wars  of  religion  on  the  Continent  did  not  have 
their  counterpart  in  England  ;  Great  Britain  was  saved  a  Thirty 
Years’  War,  though  she  did  not  escape  some  persecution,  both 
Catholic  and  Protestant. 

Henry’s  fears  regarding  the  succession  probably  led  to  the  passage 
by  Parliament  (1544)  of  an  act  which  restored  Mary  and  Elizabeth 
to  legitimacy,  and  gave  Henry  the  power  to  name  his  successors 
should  his  own  descendants  fail.  Accordingly,  he  left  a  will  pro¬ 
viding  that  in  case  Edward  should  die  without  children,  first  Mary, 
and  then  Elizabeth  should  succeed,  and  if  neither  of  them  should 
have  children,  the  crown  should  go  to  the  descendants  of  Henry’s 
younger  sister,  Mary  (§  227,  note).  Duchess  of  Suffolk.  He  thus, 
contrary  to  the  rules  of  descent,  left  out  the  descendants  of  his 
oldest  sister,  Margaret,  wife  of  James  IV  of  Scotland  (§  222). 

References.  — Green,  Short  His/ory,c\\2i^.  vi,  §§  5-6,  chap,  vii,  §  i  ;  Gar¬ 
diner,  Student's  History,  chap,  xxiv,  §§  15-17,  chaps,  xxv-xxvi ;  Terry,  His¬ 
tory,  Part  III,  Book  II,  chaps,  ii-iv  (pp.  520-558);  Tout,  Advanced  History, 
Book  V,  chap,  ii,  §§  17-30,  chap,  iii ;  Seebohm,  Era  of  the  Protestant  Revo¬ 
lution,  Part  I,  chap,  iii  (e).  Part  II,  chap,  ii.  Part  III,  chap,  ii;  Traill,  Social 
England,  vol.  Ill,  chap,  ix  ;  Adams  and  Stephens,  Select  Doctiments,  §§  144- 
159;  Cheyney,  chap,  xii,  §  iii ;  Colby,  §§  54-58 ;  Kendall, 

Source-Book,  §§  46-48;  Lee,  Source-Book,  §§  108-122. 

1  The  reaction  under  Mary  was  only  temporary,  and  the  nominal  reunion  with 
Rome  never  became  a  reality. 


CHAPTER  XVI 


t 

EDWARD  VI  AND  MARY 

262.  Edward  VI.  1547.  —  Edward  VI  was  but  little  more  than 
nine  years  old  when  he  came  to  the  throne.  Like  his  sisters, 
Mary  and  Elizabeth,  Edward  was  carefully  educated.  Like  them, 
also,  he  was  a  precocious  child.  When  he  was  ten  years  old  he 
knew  Latin,  Greek,  and  French ;  when  thirteen  he  had  read  at 
least  two  of  Aristotle’s  treatises  and  had  translated  some  of  Cicero 
into  Greek-.  It  is  related  of  him  that  he  “  was  always  cheerful  at 
his  books,”  and  that  no  study  delighted  him  more  than  that  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  “  of  which  he  reads  daily  ten  chapters  with 
greatest  attention.”  Young  as  he  was,  he  took  deep  interest  in 
the  affairs  of  his  kingdom,  and  seems  to  have  exercised  no  small 
influence  during  the  latter  years  of  his  short  reign.  He  was 
brought  up  under  strong  Protestant  surroundings,  which  naturally 
had  a  lasting  effect  upon  him. 

263.  Protector  Somerset.  1547.  —  Henry  had  arranged  for  a 
council  to  rule  the  realm  during  his  son’s  minority,  and  had  ap¬ 
pointed  men  from  both  the  reform  and  the  conservative  parties  in 
the  hopes  that  a  middle  course  would  be  pursued.  This  arrange¬ 
ment  was  set  aside  by  the  executors,  who  appointed  Edward 
Seymour,  the  little  king’s  uncle,  now  Duke  of  Somerset,  Lord 
Protector  of  the  Realm  and  Governor  of  the  King,  and  for  a  time 
he  ruled  almost  independently  of  the  council.  Somerset,  as  he  is 
generally  called,  was  an  able  man,  and  apparently  desirous  of 
acting  for  the  good  of  the  country,  but  he  possessed  no  skill  in 
statecraft.  The  times  called  for  statesmanship  of  a  high  order,  and 
chiefly  because  he  did  not  possess  this,  he  failed.  There  were 
four  matters  each  of  which  demanded  the  most  careful  and  tactful 

227 


228 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


handling  :  the  social  conditions  ;  the  relations  with  Scotland  ;  the 
relations  with  the  continental  powers ;  and  the  attitude  toward 
Protestantism  and  the  religious  question  in  general. 

264.  Progress  of  the  Protestant  Movement.  —  Somerset  sympa¬ 
thized  with  the  reform  movement  in  the  church.  A  commission  was 
sent  out  to  investigate  the  state  of  affairs  and  to  reform  abuses. 
By  order  of  this  commission  paintings  on  the  walls  of  churches 
and  chapels  were  whitewashed,  images  torn  down,  splendid 
stained  glass  windows  ruthlessly  broken  into  pieces,  and  carvings 
and  statuary  ruined.  Parliament  repealed  the  Six  Articles  (§  251) 
and  also  modified  religious  observances.  Chantries,  fraternities, 
and  gilds  of  a  religious  character  were  abolished  and  their  prop¬ 
erty  confiscated.'  Many,  if  not  most,  of  these  and  other  changes 
were  made  by  act  of  Parliament,  but  this  is  no  indication  that  they 
accorded  with  the  popular  wish,  for  it  must  be  remembered  that  all 
through  the  Tudor  period  (1483-1603)  Parliament  represented,  not 
the  people,  but  only  certain  portions  of  the  community,  and  was 
usually  chosen  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  the  sovereign.  Never¬ 
theless  the  fact  that  Parliaments  were  called  and  consulted  by  the 
monarch  was  of  vast  importance,  for  thereby  precedents  were  set 
to  which  the  people  could  appeal  when  opportunities  for  greater 
liberty  came. 

While  London  and  a  number  of  the  cities  and  towns  sympathized 
to  a  great  extent  with  the  new  religious  movement,  the  people  of 
the  rural  districts  clung  to  the  old  ceremonies  and  to  the  beliefs 
in  which  they  had  been  brought  up.  They  had  been  willing  that 
Henry  should  take  the  place  of  the  Pope  as  head  of  the  church, 
but  to  give  up  the  church  services  and  doctrines  was  quite  another 
thing.  England  was  far  from  being  Protestant  at  Henry’s  death. 

265.  Character  and  Policy  of  Somerset;  an  English  Prayer 
Book.  1549.  —  Somerset  seems  to  have  been  a  sincere  and  con- 

1  To  win  the  approval  of  the  country  at  large  some  schools  were  founded  from 
the  spoils,  but  these  did  not  exceed  twenty  or  twenty-five  at  most,  and  some  were 
so  inadequately  provided  for  that  they  amounted  to  little.  Some  of  these  schools 
still  exist  and  are  called  King  Edward  VI  Grammar  Schools. 


CHARACTER  AND  POLICY  OF  SOMERSET 


229 


scientious  man ;  he  was  tolerant  in  an  age  of  intolerance ;  he  did 
not  persecute  those  who  differed  from  him ;  he  sympathized  with 
the  common  people  against  the  nobles ;  and  he  apparently  sup¬ 
ported  Protestantism  from  personal  conviction.  On  the  other 
hand,  he  was  arrogant  in  manner  and  did  not  hesitate  to  push 


Coronation  Procession  of  Edward  VI  passing  Cheapside  Cross 


After  a  contemporary  painting 


his  own  interests ;  he  failed  to  understand  the  public  mind,  and 
he  blundered  in  almost  everything  he  undertook.  His  aims  were 
high ;  his  execution  was  ill-advised  and  bungling.  Henry  had 
arranged  for  a  marriage  between  his  son  Edward,  nine  years  old, 
and  the  young  queen  Mary  of  Scotland,  aged  four.  Somerset 
rightly  believed  that  Henry’s  policy  of  thus  uniting  England  and 
Scotland  was  wise,  but  he  attempted  to  force  Scotland  to  ratify  it. 
You  may  persuade  a  Scotsman,  but  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  to 
force  him.  Somerset  invaded  Scotland,  won  a  decisive  victory 
at  Pinkie  Cleugh  near  Edinburgh  (1547),  and  ravaged  the  south¬ 
eastern  part  of  the  kingdom.  The  Scots,  angered,  sent  the  little 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


230 

Mary  to  France,  where  she  was  brought  up  under  Catholic  influence 
and  became  a  bitter  enemy  of  England.  Furthermore,  an  alliance 
between  Scotland  and  France  was  brought  about,  to  the  great 
injury  of  both  England  and  Scotland. 

In  religious  matters,  also,  Somerset  showed  great  lack  of  judg¬ 
ment.  In  1548  priests,  by  act  of  Parliament,  were  allowed  to 
marry.  In  1549  English  churches,  by  an  Act  of  Uniformity,  were 
required  to  employ  the  English  language  and  use  what  is  known 
now  as  the  First  Prayer  Book  of  Edward  VI.  This  book  was 
chiefly  the  work  of  Archbishop  Cranmer,  and  consisted  of  trans¬ 
lations  into  beautiful  English  of  various  parts  of  the  old  Latin 
service  books.  The  book  was  a  conservative  one  and  could  hardly 
be  called  Protestant,  but  the  change  was  unwelcome  to  very 
many,  especially  to  the  people  of  Devonshire  and  Cornwall.  A 
serious  rebellion  broke  out  in  these  counties  in  1549,  due  mainly 
to  religious  causes,  but  also  to  social  grievances.  In  the  same 
year  another  rebellion  broke  out  in  Norfolk,  known,  from  the 
name  of  its  leader,  as  Ket’s  rebellion.  But  the  causes  of  this  were 
wholly  social.'  Somerset,  understanding  the  grievances  of  these 
people,  began  with  lenient  treatment,  but  was  compelled  at  last  to 
use  force.  His  effort  failed  in  Norfolk,  and  the  Council,  with  the 
aid  of  German  troops,  put  down  the  rebellion  with  great  severity. 

266.  Foreign  Affairs ;  Deposition  of  Somerset.  1549- — Somer¬ 
set  was  no  more  successful  in  foreign  affairs  than  in  domestic. 
He  neither  negotiated  an  alliance  with  the  Emperor  Charles  V, 
nor  watched  France.  War  broke  out  with  France  in  1549.  To 
crown  all,  the  debt  of  the  country  had  been  greatly  increased. 
It  was  no  wonder  that  Somerset  was  deposed  from  the  Protecto¬ 
rate  (1549).  While  it  is  true  that  Somerset  tried  to  do  too  many 
things  at  once,  and  showed  deplorable  lack  of  judgment,  it  should 
also  be  remembered  that  he  ruled  in  a  time  of  extraordinary  diffi¬ 
culty.  Henry  VHI  had  left  the  land  in  debt,  with  a  debased  cur- 

1  Robert  Ket  was  the  lord  of  a  manor,  but  took  the  popular  side,  demanding 
that  all  inclosures  of  land  should  be  pulled  down,  and  all  villeins  should  be  sef 
free  (1549)- 


DUKE  OF  NORTHUMBERLAND  AS  PROTECTOR  23 1 


rency  and  a  dissatisfied  people  ;  social  conditions  were  in  a  state 
of  unrest,  owing  to  changes  little  understood  and  beyond  the  reach 
of  legislation.  It  is  to  the  great  credit  of  Somerset  that,  almost 
alone  of  his  class,  he  tried  to  lessen  these  evils,  thereby  incurring 
the  enmity  of  his  own  associates. 

267.  Dudley,  Duke  of  Northumberland,  in  Control,  1549;  Act 
of  Uniformity,  1552.  —  Dudley,  Earl  of  Warwick,  but  better 
known  by  his  later  title  of  Northumberland,  now  assumed  the 
leadership,  though  he  did  not  take  the  title  of  Protector.  He 
was  a  son  of  Dudley,  minister  of  Henry  VH,  and  was  an  able 
soldier,  a  skilled  admiral,  and  a  diplomatist,  but  he  was  unprin¬ 
cipled  and  wholly  devoted  to  self-advancement.  He  took  up  the 
cause  of  Protestantism  from  selfish  motives  only.  Peace  was 
made  with  France,  and  laws  attempting  to  remedy  the  social 
and  financial  difficulties  were  passed.  The  government,  however, 
issued  more  debased  coin,  thereby  increasing  the  financial 
troubles.  Somerset  was  recalled  to  the  Council,  and  it  was  soon 
evident  that  he  was  regaining  his  former  influence.  On  a  charge 
of  treason,  which  could  not  be  proved,  and  then  on  a  charge  of 
felony,  Dudley  sent  him  to  the  Tower  and  afterwards  caused  him 
to  be  executed. 

Meanwhile  Dudley,  who  had  been  created  Duke  of  North¬ 
umberland,  believed  that  his  only  chance  lay  in  leading  the  party 
of  extreme  radical  reformers  of  the  church.  The  persecution  of 
the  Protestants  on  the  Continent  sent  to  England  a  number  of 
refugees,  particularly  those  who  followed  the  Swiss  reformer, 
Zwingli,  and  their  influence  on  English  religious  practice  became 
great.  (App.  i,  §  127,  Note.)  In  1552  a  new  Act  of  Uniformity 
required  the  use  in  all  churches  of  the  Second  Prayer  Book  of 
Edward  VI.  This  was  a  revision  of  the  edition  of  1549  and  was 
more  distinctly  Protestant  in  its  statement  of  doctrine.  This 
book,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  is  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer 
now  used  by  the  Church  of  England  and,  with  considerable 
change,  by  the  Episcopal  Church  in  America.  In  1553  there 


232 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


was  put  forth,  as  the  standard  of  doctrine,  a  document  known  as 
the  Forty-two  Articles  of  Religion.  These  showed  very  clearly 
the  influence  of  the  continental  reformers.  Somewhat  revised  in 
the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  they  are  the  Thirty-nine  Articles  of  the 
Church  of  England  to-day. 

268.  The  Succession;  Schemes  of  Northumberland.  1553. — 
The  health  of  the  young  king,  who  had  never  been  robust,  now 
began  to  fail,  and  it  became  evident  that  his  life  must  soon  end. 
This  alarmed  Northumberland,  for,  unless  he  could  make  his 
position  secure,  he  himself  would  be  likely  to  suffer  the  fate  of 
Somerset.  The  will  of  Henry  VIII,  which  had  been  ratified  by 
Parliament,  fixed  the  succession,  first,  in  Edward’s  children  if 
he  had  any,  then  in  Mary,  then  in  Elizabeth,  and  then  in  the 
heirs  of  Henry’s  youngest  sister  Mary  (§  261).  This  arrange¬ 
ment  was  satisfactory  to  the  country  at  large., 

Mary,  the  daughter  of  Catherine  of  Aragon,  clung  tenaciously 
to  the  Catholic  religion.  When  the  Council  forbade  her  to  prac¬ 
tice  its  rites,  the  Emperor  Charles  V,  her  first  cousin,  interfered 
in  her  behalf,  and  from  motives  of  policy  she  was  "allowed 
to  have  her  way.  Should  she  come  to  the  throne,  it  was  certain 
that,  whatever  else  might  happen,  Northumberland  and  his  follow¬ 
ers  would  be  driven  from  power.  He  therefore  hit  upon  the 
scheme  of  setting  aside  both  Mary  and  Elizabeth  as  illegitimate, 
and  of  placing  on  the  throne  a  descendant  of  Mary  Brandon, 
Henry’s  youngest  sister. 

With  his  usual  craftiness,  the  duke  married  one  of  his  sons. 
Lord  Guilford  Dudley,  to  Lady  Jane  Grey,  Mary  Brandon’s  grand¬ 
daughter,  and  then  brought  his  arguments  to  bear  upon  the  king. 
Skillfully  placing  before  the  young  ruler  the  great  dangers  to  the 
Protestant  faith  which  would  surely  arise  if  Mary,  a  strong  Catholic, 
should  succeed  to  the  throne,  Northumberland  persuaded  Edward, 
who  was  an  equally  strong  Protestant,  that  he  had  the  right  to 
dispose  of  the  crown  by  will  as  his  father  had  done.  It  was  then 
easy  to  prevail  upon  him  to  leave  the  crown  to  Lady  Jane  Grey. 


QUEEN  MARY 


233 


As  Lady  Jane  Grey  was  Northumberland’s  daughter-in-law, 
Northumberland  thought  that  he  would  continue  to  be  master  of 
the  kingdom.  It  was  exceedingly  difficult  to  get  the  Council  to 
agree  to  this  arrangement,  for  though  Henry  had  disposed  of  the 
crown  by  will,  his  action  had  been  approved  by  Parliament,  whereas 
Edward  was  a  minor  and  Parliament  had  not  even  been  consulted. 
The  influence  of  Northumberland,  however,  backed  by  the  per¬ 
sonal  appeals  of  the  king,  prevailed. 

269.  Death  of  Edward  VI ;  Lady  Jane  Grey.  1553.  —  The  will 
had  hardly  been  executed  when  Edward  VI  died  (July  6,  1553). 
Two  days  after  Edward’s  death,  Northumberland  proclaimed  Lady 
Jane  Grey  as  queen.  Except  by  a  very  few  of  the  extreme  reform 
party,  the  proclamation  was  received  with  coldness.  Lady  Jane 
Grey  was  unknown,  and  Northumberland  was  hated;  moreover, 
it  was  almost  universally  believed  that  Mary  was  the  rightful  heir. 
Her  steady  endurance  had  won  respect,  and  the  ultra-reformers 
had  gone  so  far  that  they  had  provoked  resentment.  Mary  fled  to 
the  eastern  part  of  England,  which,  though  it  was  the  stronghold 
of  Protestantism,  loyally  supported  her.  The  troops  of  Northum¬ 
berland  led  against  her  went  over  to  her  side,  and  he,  hoping  to 
save  his  head,  acknowledged  her  as  queen.  He  was,  however, 
arrested  and  sent  to  the  Tower,  and  though  he  abjectly  renounced 
Protestantism,  his  recantation  did  not  delay  his  execution.  Lady 
Jane  Grey  and  her  husband  were  also  arrested  and  sent  to  the 
Tower.  The  young  queen  of  nine  days  was  not  yet  seventeen 
years  old ;  she  had  been  carefully  educated  and  was  familiar  with 
Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin.  She  had  a  lovely  character  and  dispo¬ 
sition,  and  had  unwillingly  assumed  the  position,  believing  it  was  a 
duty  imposed  upon  her. 

270.  Mary  I.  1553.  —  While  there  was  undoubtedly  some  re¬ 
action  against  the  extreme  Protestantism  of  Edward’s  government, 
it  was  not  that  which  made  the  people  welcome  Mary,  but  rather 
the  feeling  that  she  was  the  rightful  heir. 

Mary  was  the  first  queen  regnant  of  England.  She  was  thirty- 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


234 

seven  years  old  when  proclaimed.  She  too  had  been  carefully  edu¬ 
cated.  At  eight  she  could  read  Latin  and  Greek ;  at  eleven  she 
conversed  with  ease  in  Latin,  French,  and  Spanish,  besides  having 
some  knowledge  of  Italian.  She  had  also  been  taught  astronomy, 
geography,  natural  science,  and  mathematics,  and  she  was  an  able 
performer  on  the  lute  and  spinet.  She  possessed  the  Tudor 
ability  and  courage  in  no  small  degree,  but  lacked  the  faculty  of 
reading  public  opinion  which  was  so  marked  a  characteristic  of  her 
grandfather,  father,  and  sister.  She  w'as  naturally  kind  in  disposi¬ 
tion,  and  for  personal  wrongs  showed  at  first  great  clemency. 
“The  most  honest  of  Tudor  rulers,  she  never  consciously  did 
what  she  thought  to  be  wrong.”  But  her  one  passion  was  to  re¬ 
store  England  to  the  Catholic  Church.  Though  she  owed  her 
throne  to  the  loyalty  of  her  subjects,  and  was  received  with  ac¬ 
clamation,  she  gradually  aroused  almost  universal  hatred.  From 
first  to  last  her  reign  was  a  tragedy.  No  other  reign  in  English 
history,  not  even  that  of  King  John,  is  regarded  by  the  English 
with  such  aversion ;  no  monarch  has  secured  a  harsher  epithet 
than  that  by  which  she  is  known,  “  Bloody  Queen  Mary.” 

271.  Religious  Reaction.  1553.  —  Her  first  Parliament  de¬ 
clared  her  to  be  the  legitimate  heir,  repealed  all  acts  concerning 
religion  passed  during  the  reign  of  Edward  VI,  and,  in  general, 
restored  the  conditions  existing  under  Henry  VIII.  This  meant 
the  abolition  of  the  services  in  English,  and  the  disuse  of  the 
English  Prayer  Book ;  the  reinstatement  of  the  mass,  the  celibacy 
of  the  clergy,  and  the  Six  Articles  (§  251).  Though  it  must 
have  been  distasteful,  Mary  even  assumed  the  title  Supreme 
Head  of  the  Church.  Besides  this,  she  set  free  all  the  bishops 
and  nobles  who  had  been  imprisoned  during  the  previous  reign, 
among  them  Bishop  Gardiner  and  the  Duke  of  Norfolk;  she  im¬ 
prisoned  Archbishop  Cranmer  and  Bishops  Ridley  and  Latimer, 
and  would  doubtless  have  arrested  more  had  not  many  of  the 
Protestant  clergy  fled  to  the  Continent  for  safety.  She  made 
Gardiner,  former  Bishop  of  Winchester,  her  chancellot. 


QUEEN  MARY 


235 


Mary  would  have  not  only  restored  England  to  the  Pope, 
but  also  given  back  the  lands  and  properties  of  the  monks  seized 
by  Henry.  But  submissive  as  her  Parliament  was,  it  was  not 
ready  to  go  farther  in  the  matter  of  religion.  The  confiscated 
lands  were  held  by  about  four  thousand  owners,  who  could  not 
be  persuaded  to  resign  them. 

Mary,  however,  still  clung  to 
the  idea  of  restoring  England 
to  the  Pope. 

272.  Foreign  Affairs.  — 

Mary  now  came  more  fully 
under  the  influence  of  Charles 
V  and  his  ambassador  at 
London.  For  Charles  she 
entertained  feelings  of  grati¬ 
tude  and  trust.  He  had  in¬ 
terfered  on  her  behalf  during 
the  late  reign,  he  was  the 
champion  of  Catholicism,  he 
was  also  her  first  cousin,  be¬ 
ing  the  grandson  of  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella,  and  so  a  nephew  of  her  mother,  Catherine  of 
Aragon. 

European  politics  at  this  time  played  a  great  part  in  English 
affairs.  The  next  legal  heir  to  the  English  crown  after  Mary’s 
sister,  Elizabeth,  was  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  who  was  in  France, 
and  was  to  marry  the  heir  to  the  French  crown.  Should  she 
succeed  to  the  English  throne,  England  and  Scotland  would 
become  allies  of  France,  Charles’s  great  rival.  To  prevent  this 
possibility  and  secure  the  English  alliance  for  Spain,  Charles  pro¬ 
posed  to  Mary,  the  English  queen,  that  she  should  marry  his  son, 
Philip.^  (App.  I,  §  128.)  Philip  was  a  widower  and  about  twelve 
years  younger  than  Mary,  but  for  him  she  conceived  a  romantic 

1  Later  Philip  II  of  Spain. 


Queen  Mary 

After  a  portrait  by  Antonio  Moro 


236 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


and  sincere  affection,  and  with  true  Tudor  determination  she 
resolved  to  marry  him. 

273.  The  Spanish  Marriage.  —  Parliament  was  opposed  to  a 
marriage  with  any  foreigner  and  wished  Mary  to  marry  Courtenay, 
a  lineal  descendant  of  Edward  IV,  who  had  been  kept  in  confine¬ 
ment  many  years.  Except  his  royal  blood  there  was  nothing  to 
recommend  him,  for  he  was  dissolute  in  his  habits  and  of  small 
ability.  Mary,  to  show  her  displeasure,  dissolved  Parliament. 
She  went  on  with  negotiations,  and  signed  the  marriage  treaty  early 
in  1554.  It  was  agreed  that  Philip  should  be  only  titular  king  of 
England,  that  the  crowns  of  England  and  Spain  should  never  be 
united,  that  England  should  not  be  required  to  aid  Spain  against 
France,  and  that  no  foreigner  should  hold  any  command  in  the 
English  army  or  navy. 

274.  Wyatt’s  Rebellion. — The  news  of  what  Mary  had  done 
led  to  Wyatt’s  rebellion  (1554).  Sir  Thomas  Wyatt  and  his  fellow- 
conspirators,  who  were  strong  Protestants,  raised  the  cry  against 
the  foreign  marriage,  endeavoring  to  keep  the  religious  question 
in  the  background.  The  rising  began  in  Kent,  where  the  dread 
of  Spanish  invasion  was  keen.  Wyatt,  at  the  head  of  what  was 
hardly  more  than  a  mob,  marched  to  London,  and  for  a  time  it 
seemed  as  if  the  queen  and  her  party  were  in  great  danger.  The 
Tudor  spirit  and  courage  of  Mary  were  equal  to  the  situation. 
She  went  to  Guildhall  ^  and  in  a  bold  speech  declared  that  she 
threw  herself  for  protection  on  her  subjects,  and  that  she  would 
never  marry  without  the  consent  of  Parliament.  The  tide  turned, 
the  powerful  landowners  went  over  to  Mary,  and  even  promised 
men  to  support  her.  Though  Wyatt,  by  a  circuitous  route, 
reached  the  center  of  London,  it  was  with  only  a  few  followers, 
and  before  long  he  was  captured.  An  earlier  rising  in  Devonshire 
was  also  a  failure. 

1  Guildhall,  originally  a  hall  for  the  meeting  of  a  gild  (or  guild).  As  such  a  hall 
was  often  used  for  the  meeting  of  the  town  corporation,  it  came  to  mean,  as  in  this 
case,  the  town  hall  or  council  chamber. 


LADY  JANE  GREY 


237 


275.  Execution  of  Lady  Jane  Grey.  1554.  —  If  Mary  had  been 
lenient  in  the  earlier  days  of  her  reign,  she  was  so  no  longer. 
The  Tudor  vindictiveness  of  Henry  VII  and  Henry  VHI  re¬ 
appeared  in  her.  Wyatt,  Suffolk,  and  other  leading  rebels  were 
sent  to  the  block,  and  saddest  of  all,  the  youthful  Lady  Jane  Grey 
and  her  husband.  Lord 
Guilford  Dudley,  who  had 
been  confined  in  the 
Tower  ^  since  the  acces¬ 
sion  of  Mary,  were  also 
executed,  though  they  had 
no  connection  with  the 
plots.  Lady  Jane  Grey 
was  sacrificed  to  the 
doctrine  of  expediency. 

She  had  some  claim  to 
the  crown  by  descent,  she  had  been  the  center  of  Northumber¬ 
land’s  plot,  and  around  her  some  future  revolt  might  center ;  per¬ 
sonal  character  or  even  innocence  had  nothing  to  do  with  the 
matter.  She  met  her  death  with  calm  courage,  and  while  she 
acknowledged  her  mistake  in  taking  the  crown,  she  denied  that 
she  had  wished  or  sought  it.  “  She  was  sixteen  years  and  five 
months  old,  an  almost  perfect  type  of  youthful  womanhood.”  In 
all  a  hundred  or  more  were  e.xecuted,  and  others  were  seized. 

276.  The  Princess  Elizabeth.  1554.  —  Among  those  arrested 
was  the  Princess  Elizabeth.  The  plan  of  the  rebels  was  to  pro¬ 
claim  her  queen  and  marry  her  to  Courtenay.  That  Elizabeth 
knew  of  the  plot  can  hardly  be  doubted,  but  she  was  too  shrewd  to 
commit  herself  in  writing.  Renard,  the  Spanish  ambassador,  strongly 
advised  her  execution,  but  the  moderate  men  in  the  Council,  too  in¬ 
fluential  to  be  ignored,  opposed  even  her  imprisonment.  Eliza¬ 
beth,  in  a  letter  to  Mary,  protested  that  she  was  innocent.  For  two 

1  On  the  walls  of  the  room  in  the  Tower  occupied  by  her  the  word  "Jane" 
which  she  cut  is  still  pointed  out. 


Inscription  cut  in  wall  of  Lord  Guilford  Dud¬ 
ley’s  Cell  in  the  Tower  of  London. 


238 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


months  she  was  kept  a  close  prisoner  in  the  Tower.  Then,  as  noth¬ 
ing  could  be  proved  against  her,  she  was  sent  to  Woodstock,  where 
she  was  kept  under  close  surveillance.  She  was  at  this  time  about 
twenty-one.  Under  the  circumstances  it  cannot  be  said  that  she  was 
treated  harshly,  as  she  was  known  to  be  a  Protestant  by  profession. 

277.  Mary  marries  Philip  II  of  Spain.  1554.  —  The  failure  of 
the  rebellion  greatly  strengthened  Mary’s  position,  and  a  new 
Parliament  consented  to  the  marriage  with  Philip.  Philip  had 
shown  great  indifference  to  Mary,  for  a  young  man  of  twenty-seven 
could  hardly  be  expected  to  feel  much  affection  for  a  sickly,  plain¬ 
looking  woman  nearly  twelve  years  his  senior.  He  came  to  Eng¬ 
land,  and  in  July,  1554,  Mary  and  he  were  married  by  Gardiner  at 
Winchester.  Philip  was  given  the  title  of  king,  his  name  appeared 
with  Mary’s  in  public  documents,  and  their  heads  were  stamped  on 
the  coins  of  the  realm,  but  that  was  about  all.  The  coolness  of 
Philip  toward  Mary  increased  until  it  ended  in  ill-concealed  dislike. 
Philip  read  the  signs  of  the  times  better  than  did  the  queen,  and 
procured  the  freedom  of  Elizabeth,  thus  leaving  the  way  open  to  be 
friendly  with  her  should  she  succeed  to  the  throne. 

278.  Reconciliation  with  Rome.  1554.  —  Having  accomplished 
the  Spanish  marriage,  Mary  now  bent  all  her  energies  to  secure  the 
nation’s  reconciliation  to  Rome,  and  its  return  to  an  acknowledg¬ 
ment  of  the  papal  supremacy.  The  Parliament  which  met  after 
the  marriage,  more  compliant  than  its  predecessors,  restored  the  laws 
providing  for  the  burning  of  heretics,  and  agreed  to  the  reconcilia¬ 
tion  with  Rome,  but  steadfastly  refused  to  restore  the  abbey  lands 
confiscated  in  the  reigns  of  Henry  and  Edward,  and  though  Mary 
set  the  example  by  restoring  to  the  church  all  lands  under  her  con¬ 
trol,  it  was  not  until  the  Pope  had  waived  any  claim  to  the  confis¬ 
cated  lands,  that  the  reconciliation  with  Rome  was  agreed  to. 
Cardinal  Pole  (§  251),  the  Pope’s  representative,  was  received  by 
Mary  in  imposing  state.  The  queen,  Philip,  and  both  Houses  of 
Parliament,  kneeling  before  him,  received  absolution  for  past 
offences,  and  England  was  restored  to  communion  with  Rome. 


RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES 


239 


279.  Persecution.  1555.  —  The  reaction  in  favor  of  the 
Catholic  Church  had  now  reached  its  height.  Several  further  steps, 
which  Mary  earnestly  desired,  Parliament  declined  to  take.  If  she 
had  rested  with  parliamentary  action,  and  had  been  contented 
with  a  few  examples  of  persecution,  it  would  have  been  far  better 
for  her  and  for  the  cause  she  had  so  much  at  heart.  To  require 
conformity  in  religious  observances 
was  held  lawful  both  by  Catholics 
and  Protestants ;  to  persecute  and 
inflict  punishment  upon  heretics 
had  been  practiced  both  by  Cath¬ 
olics  and  Protestants  ;  neither  could 
consistently  blame  the  other.  It 
was  the  relentlessness  of  the  perse¬ 
cution,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
heroism  and  faithfulness  to  convic¬ 
tion  shown  by  the  sufferers,  on  the 
other,  that  roused  first  the  compas¬ 
sion,  and  then  the  horror  of  the 
people. 

It  would  seem  that  the  responsi¬ 
bility  for  the  persecution  must  rest 
chiefly  with  Mary  herself,  and  then 
upon  Bishop  Gardiner  and  Cardinal  Pole,  who  were  her  principal 
advisers.  Her  hatred  of  heresy  (App.  i,  §  76)  was  so  deep,  her 
belief  in  its  soul-destroying  effects  so  completely  assured,  that 
nothing  seemed  too  severe  if  thereby  it  might  be  rooted  out. 
Her  share  in  the  persecution  was  undoubtedly  the  result  of  deep- 
seated,  honest  conviction.  Philip  and  the  Spanish  ambassador, 
wholly  from  motives  of  policy,  advised  moderation,  but  without 
avail. 

280.  Martyrdom  of  Rogers,  Hooper,  Ridley,  Latimer,  1555  ; 
Archbishop  Cranmer,  1556.  —  The  sole  issue  in  these  persecutions 
was  heresy ;  with  the  single  exception  of  Cranmer,  whoever 


Philip  II 

After  a  portrait  by  Titian 


240 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


abjured  his  faith  would  have  suffered  lightly  or  been  safe.  One 
of  the  first  victims  was  John  Rogers,  who  had  helped  in  the  trans¬ 
lation  of  the  Bible  into  English.  He  was  burned  at  the  stake. 
He  was  followed  by  Bishop  Hooper  of  Gloucester ;  then  Bishops 
Ridley  and  Latimer^  were  burned  at  Oxford.  Cranmer,  Arch¬ 
bishop  of  Canterbury,  had  been  deposed  in  1556.  Under  the 
pressure  of  fear  he  recanted  several  times.  But  Mary  had  no  pity 
for  him  who  had  been  so  prominent  in  the  divorce  of  her  mother. 
He  was  to  die,  but  as  he  alone  of  the  accused  had  been  conse¬ 
crated  by  the  Pope,  it  was  deemed  needful  to  get  papal  sanction 
for  his  death ;  this  was  given.  When  brought  into  St.  Mary’s 
Church,  Oxford,  to  make  a  public  recantation,  he  surprised  his 
audience  by  renouncing  his  former  recantations,  and  holding  out 
his  right  hand,  said,  “  This  hand  hath  sinned  and  it  shall  suffer 
first.”  When  the  fire  was  lighted  around  him,  “he  was  seen  to 
thrust  forth  his  right  hand  into  the  flames,  crying  aloud,  ‘  This  hand 
hath  offended ;  ’  and  so  held  it  steadfastly  till  it  was  consumed.” 

281.  Philip  II  leaves  England,  1555  ;  Loss  of  Calais,  1558. — 
Philip  remained  in  England  about  a  year,  and  then,  despite  Mary’s 
passionate  entreaties,  departed  for  the  Continent  on  the  plea  of 
urgent  business.  The  excuse  was  a  valid  one,  for  his  father,  the 
Emperor  Charles  V,  was  about  to  resign  his  honors  to  Philip  and 
go  into  that  strange  retirement  which  lasted  until  his  death.  (App. 
I,  §  128.)  Philip’s  departure  was  a  piece  of  good  fortune  for 
England,  because  it  very  much  lessened  the  risk  of  continental 
entanglements.  It  was  nearly  two  years  before  Philip  returned 
to  England  (1557),  and  then  only  for  a  brief  visit,  in  order,  if 
possible,  to  get  England  to  aid  him  in  a  war  against  France. 
The  Spanish  connection  grew  more  and  more  distasteful  to  the 
English  people,  who  realized  that  the  one  purpose  of  Philip  was 
to  make  England  actively  support  Spain. 

r  Hugh  Latimer,  Bishop  of  Worcester,  was  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  liberal  of 
the  churchmen  of  his  time.  He  spoke  in  forceful  English  on  the  problems  of  the 
day  and  exercised  great  influence.  He  was  about  seventy  at  the  time  of  his  death. 


CLOSE  OF  MARY’S  REIGN 


241 


Philip  accomplished  the  object  of  his  brief  visit  and  Mary  de¬ 
clared  war  against  France  (1557).  The  only  result  of  importance 
was  the  loss  of  Calais  (January  5,  1558).  England  had  held  this 
seaport  since  1347  (§  155).  The  English  people  felt  that  its 
loss  v/as  a  heavy  blow  to  their  honor ;  to  Mary,  it  seemed  a 
calamity.  She  said  that  if  her  body  was  opened,  “  Calais  ” 
would  be  found  written  on  her  heart. 

282.  Persecution  continued ;  its  Effects.  —  The  most  dis¬ 
tinguished  of  the  Protestant  sufferers  have  been  named,  but 
neither  age  nor  sex  was  spared.  The  whole  number  of  deaths 
was  almost  three  hundred.  The  persecutions  were  confined  in 
a  great  measure  to  the  southern  and  eastern  counties  of  England, 
for  here  was  the  stronghold  of  Protestantism.  Here,  too,  the 
loyalty  of  the  people  had  given  Mary  her  crown,  a  loyalty  ill 
requited  by  her  to  whom  it  had  meant  so  much.  This  con¬ 
centration  of  persecution  caused  a  reaction  against  Mary  so  strong 
that  nothing  could  withstand  it.  Thousands  went  over  to  Prot¬ 
estantism,  and  many  able  men  fled  to  the  Continent,  there  to 
become  still  stronger  Protestants.  These,  full  of  zeal  for  their 
new  doctrines,  held  themselves  ready  to  return  to  England  when¬ 
ever  opportunity  offered. 

Mary  had  reigned  about  five  years,  but  in  that  short  period 
more  suffered  death  than  in  the  reign  of  either  Henry  VHI  or 
Elizabeth,  though  one  reigned  thirty-eight  and  the  other  forty- 
five  years.  In  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  political  considerations 
always  decided  a  case,  while  under  Mary  the  religious  question 
was  the  only  one  at  issue. 

283.  Close  of  Mary’s  Reign.  1556-1558.  —  Gardiner  died  in 
1556,  and  Cardinal  Pole,  who  had  been  appointed  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  (1556)  after  the  death  of  Cranmer,  became  Mary’s 
chief  and  almost  sole  adviser. 

The  fact  that  she  was  childless  was  a  terrible  grief  to  Mary. 
She  was,  moreover,  the  victim  of  an  incurable  disease,  and  the 
last  ten  months  of  her  reign  were  full  of  gloom  and  foreboding. 


242 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


Everything  she  had  most  desired  —  the  complete  restoration  of 
her  kingdom  to  the  faith  she  adored,  the  love  of  a  husband  to 
whom  she  was  devoted,  the  child  she  passionately  longed  for  — 
all  these  were  denied.  There  is  scarcely  a  more  pathetic  spec¬ 
tacle  in  history.  She  died  in  November,  1558,  having  recognized 
her  sister  as  her  successor.^  Cardinal  Pole’s  death  occurred 
shortly  afterwards. 

References. — Green,  Short  History,  chap,  vii,  §§  1-2;  Gardiner, 

History,  chap,  xxvii;  Terry,  History,  Part  III,  Book  II,  chap,  iv  (pp.  558- 
570),  chap,  v;  Tout,  Advanced  History,  Book  V,  chaps,  iv-v;  Creighton,  Age 
of  Elizabeth,  Book  I,  chaps,  ii-iv;  Traill,  Social  England,  vol.  Ill,  chap,  x; 
Adams  and  Stephens,  Select  Documents,  §§  159-166;  Readings, 

chap,  xii,  §§  iv-v;  Colby,  Selections,  §§  58-60;  Kendall,  Source-Book,  §§  49- 
51;  Lee,  Source-Book,  §§  122-132. 

1  As  a  matter  of  fact  it  made  no  difference  whether  Edward,  Mary,  or  Elizabeth 
recognized  a  successor,  for  it  was  not  theirs  to  appoint  one.  The  matter  was 
governed  by  the  laws  of  succession  and  by  the  will  of  the  people. 


CHAPTER  XVII 


ENGLAND  IN  THE  FIFTEENTH  AND  SIXTEENTH 
CENTURIES 

284.  Rise  of  the  Middle  Class.  —  Nearly  all  of  the  great  move¬ 
ments  of  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries  had  their  beginning 
with  men  of  the  middle  class.  The  men  who  brought  about  the 
Renaissance  and  the  Reformation,  who  transformed  the  medieval 
world  into  the  modern  world,  were  neither  nobles  nor  ecclesias¬ 
tics.  The  great  statesmen  of  Henry  VII  and  Henry  VHI  were 
men  who  had  risen  from  obscurity.  Columbus  and  his  contem¬ 
porary  explorers  were  all  men  of  the  middle  class.  Under  feu¬ 
dalism  there  were  but  two  ranks  —  the  lords  and  the  villeins  —  and 
under  strictly  agricultural  conditions  the  system  worked  fairly 
well.  But  it  is  not  adapted  for  commercial  life  or  for  a  class 
whose  service  is  based  on  wages  or  on  money  payments.  With 
the  revival  of  trade  with  the  East,  and  with  the  improvements  in 
shipping,  there  was  a  great  increase  of  commerce,  and  along  trade 
routes  cities  and  towns  sprung  up,  whose  citizens  were  unwilling  to 
be  villeins.  Commerce  and  industry  quicken  the  intellect  more 
than  agriculture.  Travel  and  intercourse  sharpen  the  wits  more 
than  staying  at  home.  It  was  the  growing  intelligence  of  the 
community,  stimulated  and  enlightened  by  trade  and  travel,  that 
transformed  the  world  in  art,  industry,  politics,  and  religion,  and 
brought  about  a  revolution  in  social  and  economic  conditions. 
Commercial,  trade,  and  town  life  made  a  middle  class.  Owing  to 
the  fact  that  feudalism  was  never  fully  developed  in  England  there 
was  greater  opportunity  for  the  development  of  middle  class  con¬ 
ditions.  And  nowhere  in  Europe  has  the  influence  of  the  middle 
class  been  more  important. 


243 


244 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


285.  Land  Systems.  —  The  manorial  system  of  the  previous 
century  (§  95)  still  prevailed,  as  a  rule.  Dwellings,  farm  buildings, 
and  methods  of  agriculture  had  improved  but  little.  Rents  and 
wages  were,  however,  generally  paid  in  money.  Even  down  to 
the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  rule  of  custom  was  the 
ultimate  standard  to  which  everything  was  referred,  and  its  im¬ 
portance  must  be  kept  in  mind.  Rents,  dues,  rights,  occupation 


Fifteenth  Century  Farm-house,  near  Salisbury 


of  land,  and  administration  of  justice  depended  not  so  much  upon 
law  as  upon  custom,  and  that  rather  upon  local  than  national 
usage.  The  attempt  to  remedy  this  evil  led  to  the  passage  of 
many  laws,  some  of  which  aggravated  the  difficulties  and  hard¬ 
ships  they  were  meant  to  cure  (§§  157,  158). 

The  greater  part  of  the  population  of  England  was  in  the  south¬ 
ern  and  eastern  counties,  and  the  total  number  in  1558  has  been 
estimated  at  about  three  millions.  Notwithstanding  the  slowness 
of  the  agricultural  population  to  make  changes,  changes  were  all 
the  time  going  on,  and  it  was  largely  the  prevailing  conservatism 
and  the  slavery  to  custom  that  caused  so  much  suffering  in  Eng¬ 
land  dqring  the  transition  period.  Even  able  men  like  Sir  Thomas 
More  had  failed  to  see  the  signs  of  the  times  and  the  advantages 
of  competition. 


INDUSTRIAL  CONDITIONS 


245 


286.  Woolen  Trade  j  Inclosures.  —  Intercourse  between  nations 
becoming  easier  and  more  frequent  led  to  a  greater  interchange 
of  products  and  increased  the  number  of  trades,  and  all  these  led 
to  a  diversity  of  material  interests.  The  woolen  manufacturers  of 
Flanders  and  of  France  were  celebrated,  and  they  needed  wool. 
England  is  admirably  suited  for  raising  sheep  on  account  of  its 
climate,  which  is  favorable  to  the  growth  of  grass.  The  English 
wool  was  of  fine  quality,  and  hence  in  demand  on  the  Continent. 
The  manufacture  of  woolen  goods  sprung  up  in  England  also,  and 
the  larger  landholders  in  England  found  it  to  their  advantage  to 
raise  sheep  in  great  numbers.  Sheep  raising  was  no  new  thing, 
the  change  was  in  the  substitution  of  sheep  raising  for  other  forms 
of  agriculture.^  As  the  land  system  in  vogue  was  not  suited  for 
this  purpose,  they  began  not  only  to  inclose  common  land  in 
order  to  obtain  large  fields  for  their  flocks,  but  also  to  turn  out  or 
“  evict  ”  small  tenants,  so  that  land  which  had  formerly  been  used 
for  raising  grain  might  be  turned  into  pastures. 

287.  Increase  of  Pauperism.  —  Sheep  raising  did  not  require 
so  many  men  as  tillage ;  where  it  had  taken  over  a  hundred  men 
to  look  after  crops,  ten  or  a  dozen  could  look  after  sheep.  The 
process  of  inclosures  and  of  increasing  the  size  of  farms,  there¬ 
fore,  threw  many  out  of  employment.  Villages  were  depopulated, 
and  houses  were  pulled  down  or  fell  to  ruin,  while  their  tenants 
were  compelled  to  seek  for  other  employment  or  become  vaga¬ 
bonds.  Under  the  old  system  “  tramps,”  as  we  call  them,  were 
almost  unknown,  and  such  as  did  exist  had  a  ready  refuge  at  the 
numerous  monasteries  and  abbeys.  But  with  no  refuge,  not  even 
almshouses  or  poorhouses,  they  threw  themselves  on  the  com¬ 
munity  in  increasing  and  alarming  numbers,  down  to  the  time  of 
Elizabeth. 

1  The  change  was  not  wholly 'due  to  the  demand  for  wool.  Farming  where 
hired  labor  was  employed  had  come  to  be  improfitable  under  the  old  system,  and 
it  is  likely  that  men  of  property  thought  they  saw  in  sheep  raising  a  profitable  use 
of  capital. 


246 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


288.  Social  Changes.  —  While  the  inclosure  of  land  was  not 
wholly  responsible  for  the  social  unrest,  much  of  this  must  be  laid 
to  its  charge.  In  fact,  the  whole  agricultural  system  was  under¬ 
going  a  great  change.  Rents  fixed  by  custom  were  changing  into 
the  modern  system,  under  which  the  farm  or  land  is  let  to  him  who 
will  pay  the  most  for  it.  This  in  itself  tended  to  raise  rents,  which 
were  still  further  increased  by  the  fact  that  many  who  had  formerly 
lived  in  towns  went  into  the  country  to  use  their  capital  in  farming 
and  sheep  raising  on  a  large  scale.  The  rise  in  rents  also  tended  to 
bring  about  an  improvement  in  the  methods  of  agriculture  in  order 
to  meet  the  additional  charges.  Again,  there  was  a  great  increase 
in  the  number  of  parks,  which  were  used  by  their  noble  owners 
simply  as  pleasure  grounds  or  for  the  preservation  of  deer  and  game. 
This  decreased  the  amount  of  land  that  could  be  used  as  tillage. 

The  administrators  of  the  various  governments  of  the  fifteenth 
and  sixteenth  centuries,  though  they  often  failed  to  understand 
the  causes,  were  fully  aware  of  the  conditions,  and  the  statute 

books  record  many  laws  enacted  to 
redress  these  evils ;  but  sometimes 
the  laws  could  not  be  enforced,  some¬ 
times  they  were  totally  inadequate, 
and  at  other  times  they  proved  to 
be  unwise.  Besides  this,  the  great 
landowners,  who  were  always  in¬ 
fluential  in  Parliament,  clearly  did 
their  best  to  render  futile  such  legis¬ 
lation  as  they  thought  would  harm 
their  own  interests. 

Many  of  the  risings  against  the 
government  in  the  time  of  Henry  VIII  and  Edward  VI  had  their 
origin  fully  as  much  in  social  as  in  religious  causes.  Ket’s  rebel¬ 
lion  (1.549)  was  wholly  social  (§  265). 

289.  Debasement  of  the  Coinage;  Influx  of  Silver.  —  The  de¬ 
basement  of  the  coins,  already  referred  to  (§  258),  begun  under 


SOCIAL  CHANGES 


247 


Henry  VIII  and  continued  under  the  government  of  Edward  VI, 
was  injurious  to  all  classes,  but  most  so  to  the  poor.  The  effect, 
as  must  always  be  the  case,  was  to  raise  the  cost  of  all  articles. 
When  a  shilling  contained  only  half  as  much  silver  as  it  had  for¬ 
merly,  it  would  purchase  only  half  as  much.  Besides  this,  the 
great  influx  of  silver  from  American  mines  so  lowered  its  value 
that  its  purchasing  power  was 
itself  lowered.  As  the  price  of 
labor  was  fixed  chiefly  by  custom, 
the  unfortunate  laborer,  though  re¬ 
ceiving  nominally  the  same  amount 
in  wages,  found  himself  hardly 
able  to  buy  half  as  much  with  it. 

And  attempts  to  fix  the  rate  of 
wages  by  law  too  often  increased 
the  evil. 

290.  Town  Life  ;  Gilds.  —  Life 
in  towns  was  much  as  it  had 
been,  but  the  power  and  influence 
of  the  gilds  ^  was  greatly  les¬ 
sened  through  confiscation  of  their  lands  by  Henry  VIII  and, 
later,  by  Somerset.  In  these  measures  only  the  London  gilds 
were  spared.  The  organization  and  development  of  the  gilds 
made  it  increasingly  difficult  for  an  apprentice  to  become  a 
master,  or  for  a  common  workman  or  journeyman  to  better  his  posi¬ 
tion.  Above  all,  the  restrictions  by  gilds  on  labor  in  the  towns  led 
to  a  great  increase  in  the  number  of  independent  workmen,  many 
of  whom  left  the  old  centers  of  manufacture  and  settled  in  the 
villages  and  market  towns,  disposing  of  their  goods  at  the  markets 
or  fairs  held  periodically.  This  was  especially  the  case  with 
cloth  workers.  As  all  labor  was  hand  labor,  such  a  movement 

1  Gilds  are  of  very  ancient  origin.  They  were  divided  into  merchant  and  craft 
gilds.  The  former  dealt  with  the  general  trade  of  the  country,  while  the  craft  gild 
dealt  with  its  own  particular  industry  or  craft.  They  regulated  details  of  trade  and 
manufacture  rigidly  and  had  great  power. 


Arms  of  the  Gild  of  Merchant 
Taylors 


248 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


could  easily  be  accomplished.  The  result  on  many  towns  was 
disastrous. 

291.  Trade  and  Commerce.  —  On  the  other  hand,  trade  and 
commerce,  particularly  in  the  seaports  on  the  eastern  coast, 
greatly  increased.  Trade  was  especially  flourishing  with  Flanders, 
at  first  with  Ghent  and  Bruges,  and  then  with  Antwerp.  An 
Italian  writer  of  the  times  has  left  on  record  a  list  of  the  articles 
of  commerce  exchanged.  “  Antwerp  sends  to  England,”  he  says, 
“jewels,  precious  stones,  silver  bullion,  quicksilver,  wrought  silks, 
gold  and  silver  cloth  and  thread,  camlets,  grograms,  spices,  drugs, 
sugar,  cotton,  cummin,  linens  fine  and  coarse,  serges,  tapestry, 
madder,  hops  in  great  quantities,  glass,  salt,  fish,  metallic  and 
other  merceries  of  all  sorts,  arms  of  all  kinds,  ammunition  for 
war,  and  household  furniture.  .  .  .  From  England,  Antwerp  re¬ 
ceives  vast  quantities  of  coarse  and  fine  draperies,  fringes,  and  all 
other  things  of  that  kind  to  a  great  value  ;  the  finest  wool ;  excel¬ 
lent  saffron,  but  in  small  quantities ;  much  lead  and  tin ;  sheep 
and  rabbit  skins  without  number,  and  various  other  sorts  of  fine 
peltry,  and  leather ;  beer,  cheese,  and  other  provisions  in  great 
quantities;  also  Malmsley  wines,  which  the  English  import  from 
Candia.”^  This  was  the  commercial  activity  of  England,  which 
saw  such  great  expansion  during  the  reign  of  Elizabeth. 

292.  Domestic  Life  ;  Women  and  Children.  —  There  was  a  de¬ 
cided  advance  in  the  standard  of  living.  Owing  to  the  difficulty 
and  expense  of  transportation,  houses  were  built  of  the  material 
nearest  at  hand,  but  stone  had  begun  to  displace  wood,  and  when 
stone  was  not  convenient,  brick  was  used.^  Houses  were  poorly 
lighted,  ill-ventilated,  and  in  winter  scarcely  warmed  by  the  open 

1  "  Camlets,”  fine  woolen,  or  wool  and  silk  materials;  "grograms,”  a  coarse 
fabric  made  of  silk,  or  silk,  wool,  and  mohair;  “draperies,"  cloths;  "  merceries,” 
textile  fabrics,  usually  fine  goods;  "  saffron,”  a  dye  and  a  drug  prepared  from  saf¬ 
fron  fiow,ers ;  "  peltry,”  undressed  skins  of  animals  valuable  for  their  fur. 

2  Brick,  which  was  common  in  Roman  Britain,  as  remains  abundantly  testify, 
somehow  fell  into  disuse.  It  was  revived  by  the  Flemings  in  the  reign  of 
Edward  IV  (about  1480). 


DOMESTIC  LIFE 


249 


wood  fires,  though  an  advance  is  shown  by  the  introduction  of 
charcoal  and  coal  as  fuel.  On  the  other  hand,  there  were  more 
rooms,  because  greater  privacy  was  desired,  and  the  great  hall  or 
living  room  was  diminished  in  size  for  the  same  reason,  the 
master  and  mistress  preferring  to  have  their  meals  apart  from 
their  dependents.  The 
hall,  too,  was  no  longer 
used  as  a  sleeping  apart¬ 
ment.  To  a  less  extent 
similar  changes  took 
place  in  houses  of 
smaller  size.  The  floors 
were  still  bare  or  strewn 
with  rushes  ;  articles  of 
glass  and  silver  were 
practically  unknown,  ex¬ 
cept  in  the  houses  of  the 
very  wealthy  ;  almost  all 
the  household  comforts 
now  universal  were  ab¬ 
sent.  The  dress  of  those 
in  the  court  circles  was 
rich  and  expensive,  but  that  of  others  was  simple  and  well  suited 
to  their  various  occupations.  The  Englishman  of  that  day,  as  at 
present,  was  a  large  eater ;  his  meals  were  very  substantial,  and 
while  comparatively  little  wine  was  drunk,  an  abundance  of  ale 
and  beer  was  considered  essential.  Early  hours  for  meals  were 
still  the  custom,  partly  because  of  the  lack  of  artificial  light.  The 
farmers  had  dinner  at  one,  and  supper  at  seven,  while  the  gentry 
dined  at  eleven  and  supped  at  five. 

The  demand  for  industrial  laborers  in  the  fifteenth  century  greatly 
affected  the  condition  of  women.  We  find  them  employed  in 
various  arts  and  industries,  and  they  are  mentioned  in  the  statutes 
regulating  labor.  They  were  sometimes  even  admitted  to  the 


Husbandman  and  Country  Woman  of 
Fifteenth  Century 


250 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


gilds.  Among  other  industries  they  were  cloth  makers,  cloth 
workers,  weavers  of  linen,  dealers  in  silk,  also  in  general  mer¬ 
chandise,  keepers  of  inns  and  taverns,  and  brewers  on  a  large 
scale.  In  an  account  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  of  payment  for 
haymaking,  more  women  than  men  are  named,  and  preparing  the 
straw  for  thatching  roofs  was  almost  wholly  woman’s  work.  Be¬ 
sides  this,  household  service  was  very  common,  and  it  is  interest¬ 
ing  to  note  that  this  was  not  considered  servile,  for  women  of 
good  position  shared  in  it.  The  wages  of  women  then,  as  now, 
were  much  below  those  of  men,  sometimes  not  more  than  half  as 
much.  The  problems  of  the  fifteenth  century  relating  to  the 
employment  of  women  were  practically  the  same  as  at  present, 
and  similar  arguments  for  and  against  changes  were  used.' 

There  is  little  information  regarding  child  labor,  but  it  is  per¬ 
fectly  clear  that  very  young  children  were  employed  on  the  farms 
and  elsewhere.  One  case  is  known  where  a  child  of  eight  years 
was  put  to  the  plow ;  apprentices  are  spoken  of  as  being  eleven, 
and  ordinances  and  statutes  fixing  the  age  for  work  at  thirteen  or 
fourteen  indicate  that  there  was  need  for  their  passage.  Appar¬ 
ently  the  legal  definition  of  “  a  child  ”  was  “  under  fourteen.” 
Probably  no  class  had  a  harder  time  than  the  children  of  this 
period.  The  ignorance  of  the  parents  was  as  much  to  blame  as 
anything  else. 

The  average  duration  of  life,  owing  to  the  absence  of  sanitary 
regulations  and  the  ignorance  of  the  commonest  laws  of  health, 
was  much  shorter  than  it  is  now.  This  may  account  for  the  fact 
that  children  matured  earlier  than  at  present.^ 

1  Women  had  a  voice  in  the  choice  of  churchwardens,  and  sometimes  were 
churchwardens  themselves.  They  also  sometimes  held  offices  of  importance. 

2  As  instances  may  be  given  the  family  of  Henry  IV:  One  of  his  sons  was 
viceroy  of  Wales  at  nineteen,  another  viceroy  of  Ireland  at  eighteen,  another  the 
associate  general  of  an  army  at  seventeen.  At  the  battle  of  Shrewsbury  the  Prince 
of  Wales  (afterward  Henry  V)  was  one  of  the  generals  at  the  age  of  fifteen.  Lady 
Margaret  Beaufort  married  at  the  age  of  fourteen  and  was  the  mother  of  Henry  VII 
when  she  was  fifteen.  The  precocity  of  the  children  of  Henry  VIII  and  that  of 
Lady  Jane  Grey  has  already  been  noted. 


EDUCATION  AND  LITERATURE 


251 


293.  Travel ;  Education ;  Literature.  —  All  roads  were  bad  and 
almost  all  travel  was  on  horseback ;  communication  between 
differents  parts  of  the  country  was  infrequent  and  the  few  letters 
which  were  exchanged  were  conveyed  by  private  hands.  An 
increased  interest  was  taken  in  education,  which  is  shown  by  the 
establishment  and  endowment  of  schools,  some  of  which  are  still 
in  existence.  The  education  of  both  men  and  women  in  the 
upper  classes  was  sometimes  carried  to  a  high  degree  of  ex¬ 
cellence,  as  is  shown  by  the  example  of  the  daughter  of  Sir 
Thomas  More,  by  Lady  Jane  Grey,  by  the  poet  Henry  Howard, 
Earl  of  Surrey,  by  the  Paston  family,  and  many  others.  The 
spread  of  education  increased  the  number  of  those  who  could 
read,  and  so  increased  the  demand  for  books,  and  though  by  the 
close  of  the  fifteenth  century  many  books  were  produced  in 
England,  so  great  was  the  demand  tliat  books  were  among  the 
very  few  articles  which  could  be  imported  free  of  duty.  Another 
fact  showing  the  increase  of  general  education  is  the  number 
of  books  printed  in  English.  Literature  gave  promise  of  the 
future  in  the  poems  of  the  Earl  of  Surrey  and  of  Sir  Thomas 
Wyatt  the  elder  in  the  collection  known  as  Tottel's  Miscellany,  in 
the  writings  of  Sir  Thomas  More,  of  Roger  Ascham,  in  Cranmer’s 
Prayer  Book,  Latimer’s  sermons,  and,  above  all,  in  Tyndale’s  Bible. 

References.  —  Traill,  Social  England,  ^oX.W,  chaps,  vi-viii;  Cheyney, /«- 
dustrial  and  Social  History,  z\izy.  vi  (in  part);  Tout,  Advanced  History, 
Book  V,  chap,  viii  (in  part);  Cheyney,  Readings,  chap,  xii,  §§  191-194; 
Kendall,  Source-Book,  §§  61-68. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 


THE  REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH 

294.  Elizabeth.  1558.  — The  accession  of  Elizabeth  found  the 
country  discredited  abroad ;  and  at  home,  in  debt,  weak,  the 
people  torn  by  internal  dissensions,  sullenly  resentful  against  their 
former  sovereign,  and  showing  little  or  no  patriotism  or  national 
spirit. 

Elizabeth  was  received  by  the  English  without  a  dissenting 
voice,  though  some  of  the  strong  Catholics  must  have  dreaded  the 
change  of  rulers.  At  the  time  of  her  accession  she  was  about 
twenty-five  years  old.  A  Venetian  ambassador  in  London  thus 
describes  her  :  “  In  face  she  is  pleasing  rather  than  beautiful ;  but 
her  figure  is  tall  and  well  proportioned.  She  has  a  good  com¬ 
plexion,  though  of  a  somewhat  olive  tint,  beautiful  eyes,  and  above 
all  a  beautiful  hand,  which  she  likes  to  show.  She  is  of  admirable 
talent  and  intelligence.  .  .  .  She  has  great  knowledge  of  language, 
especially  Italian.  .  .  .  She  is  proud  and  haughty.”  Besides 
Italian,  she  could  speak  French  and  Latin  with  ease,  and  Greek 
fairly  well.  She  was  a  “  bold  horsewoman,  a  good  shot,  a  graceful 
dancer,  a  skillful  musician,  and  an  accomplished  scholar  ” ;  she 
was  fond  of  literature  and  encouraged  its  development.  She  was 
like  her  father  in  her  hearty,  friendly  manner,  and  love  of  popular¬ 
ity,  which  she  cultivated  by  visiting  among  the  nobility  and 
gentry.  She  also  had  a  good  share  of  his  coarseness  and  fond¬ 
ness  for  display.  In  her  vanity,  her  frivolity,  and  her  love  of 
coquetry  and  flattery  she  resembled  her  mother,  Anne  Boleyn. 
Like  most  of  the  Tudors,  she  was  unscrupulous,  untruthful  when  it 
suited  her  purpose,  unfeeling,  and  relentless.  Like  them,  also,  she 
was  governed  by  the  principle  of  expediency.  She  was  as  parsi- 

252 


QUEEN  ELIZABETH 


253 


rnonious  as  Henry  VII,  and  never  was  the  expenditure  of  the 
public  funds  more  closely  watched  or  economically  distributed 
than  by  her.  Unlike  the  rest  of  the  Tudors,  she  had  her  passions 
and  frivolities  under  perfect  control,  and  when  it  suited  her  pur¬ 
pose,  the  vain,  trifling  woman  became  the  keen,  shrewd,  far- 
seeing,  wise  queen. 

F  ew  monarchs  have 
better  understood 
their  people.  As  a 
rule  she  knew  the 
exact  limits  of  her 
power,  but  if  she 
found  that  she  had 
gone  too  far  she' 
always  contrived  to 
retire  with  dignity. 

Young  as  she  was 
on  coming  to  the 
throne,  she  had 
learned  much,  both 
by  observation  and 
experience,  and  the 
policy  she  laid 
down  for  England, 
and  for  herself  as  well,  was  steadily  pursued  throughout  her  long 
reign.  Like  her  father,  she  wished  to  guide  public  affairs,  but  she 
knew  the  value  of  able  ministers  of  state  ;  and  no  English  monarch 
has  shown  more  wisdom  in  choosing  counselors,  or  more  faithful¬ 
ness  to  them,  than  Elizabeth.  At  the  very  beginning  she  chose 
Sir  William  Cecil,  afterwards  known  as  Lord  Burghley,  to  be  her 
chief  adviser,  and  for  forty  years  he  remained  in  her  service. 
His  brother-in-law.  Sir  Nicholas  Bacon,  she  made  keeper  of  the 
seal,  and  so  there  was  harmony  in  the  administration.  Sir  Francis 
Walsingham,  perhaps  the  ablest  diplomatist  of  the  day,  though 


Queen  Elizabeth 


254 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


unscrupulous  with  others,  was  for  many  years  her  faithful  and 
devoted  secretary  of  state. 

295.  Domestic  Problems  confronting  Elizabeth.  1558.  —  Few 
monarchs  on  succeeding  to  the  throne  have  had  more  difficult 
problems  to  solve.  The  people  were  one  in  hating  a  foreign 
supremacy,  but  aside  from  that,  there  was  difference  of  opinion. 
Probably  a  majority  of  the  people  would  have  preferred,  in  reli¬ 
gious  matters,  a  return  to  the  conditions  prevailing  during  the  later 
years  of  Henry  VIII,  but  the  extremists,  both  on  the  Catholic  and 
Protestant  sides,  would  doubtless  have  rebelled  against  this ;  and 
Elizabeth  knew  that  she  could  not  afford  to  risk  the  opposition  of 
the  Protestants.  Though  she  herself  would  have  been  well  satisfied 
to  return  to  the  policy  of  her  father,  she  saw  that  it  could  not  be. 
She  therefore  determined  to  pursue  a  middle  course.  Personally 
she  cared  little  for  religion,  but  as  the  daughter  of  Anne  Boleyn, 
whose  marriage  had  been  pronounced  illegal  by  the  Pope,  she  was 
practically  forced  to  support  Protestantism. 

296.  Acts  of  Supremacy  and  Uniformity.  1559-  —  Her  first 
Parliament  was  naturally  Protestant  in  its  character,  and  soon 
passed  a  new  Act  of  Supremacy,  and  one  of  Uniformity.  The  Act  of 
Supremacy  in  general  resembled  those  of  her  father’s  reign,  though 
it  was  more  moderate.  The  title  Supreme  Head  of  the  Church 
was  dropped,  and  Elizabeth  was  described  as  “  the  only  supreme 
Governor  of  this  realm,  as  well  in  all  spiritual  or  ecclesiastical  things 
or  causes,  as  temporal.”  Most  of  Mary’s  church  legislation  was 
repealed,  but  not  all  the  statutes  of  Edward  VI  and  of  Henry  VHI 
were  revived,  and  the  laws  passed  were  studiously  moderate  and 
framed  to  appeal  to  moderate  men.  The  Act  of  Uniformity  re¬ 
stored  the  Prayer  Book  of  Edward  VI  after  being  so  revised  by  a 
commission  that  even  extremists  might  be  willing  to  accept  it. 
All  the  bishops  of  Mary’s  reign,  except  one,  were  removed;  but 
out  of  9400  clergymen  then  in  England  less  than  200  refused  to 
comply  with  the  Acts.  These  were  dismissed.  On  laymen  a 
moderate  fine  was  levied  for  absence  from  church ;  all  office- 


ELIZABETH  AND  THE  PROTESTANTS 


255 


holders  were  required  to  take  the  oath  of  supremacy.  Matthew 
Parker,  a  man  of  moderate  views,  who  was  fully  in  accord  with 
Elizabeth’s  ideas,  was  appointed  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and 
the  break  with  Rome  was  complete. 

297.  Catholics  and  Puritans.  —  While  these  arrangements  in 
regard  to  the  church  were  satisfactory  to  the  great  body  of  the 
people,  they  were  distasteful  to  the  extremists.  On  the  one  hand, 
the  strong  adherents  of  the  Pope  could  not  conscientiously  attend 
the  services  of  the  church  ;  on  the  other  hand,  those  who  had  been 
refugees  in  the  days  of  Mary,  had  become  thoroughly  imbued  with 
the  teachings  of  the  Swiss  Protestants  and  especially  with  the  doc¬ 
trines  of  John  Calvin,  who  ruled  at  Geneva.  These  rejected  the 
system  of  church  government  by  bishops,  any  fixed  form  of  prayer 
or  liturgy,  and  the  use  of  vestments.  They  followed  what  is  usually 
known  as  Presbyterianism.  They  had  no  desire  to  leave  the  Church 
of  England,  but  wished  to  purify  it  from  what  they  termed  errors 
in  doctrine  and  practice,  and  in  consequence  were  called  Puritans. 

Elizabeth,  and  indeed  most  persons,  whether  Catholics  or 
Protestants,  believed  that  uniformity  in  belief  and  in  church  serv¬ 
ices  was  essential  to  the  well-being  of  a  nation.  It  is  important 
to  bear  this  in  mind,  for  otherwise  it  is  not  possible  to  understand 
what  seems  to  us  gross  intolerance.  Toleration  in  religious  matters 
is  of  later  growth,  and  neither  it  nor  perfect  religious  freedom  is 
even  yet  universal.  The  disposition  of  the  religious  question  by 
Elizabeth,  though  commendable,  could  not  be  regarded  as  final, 
for  the  conditions  were  changing  all  the  time. 

298.  Elizabeth  and  Foreign  Relations.  —  Not  less  important 
than  religious  matters  was  England’s  relation  to  the  rest  of  Europe. 
Elizabeth  wished  to  keep  the  country  independent  of  foreign 
complications.  At  that  time  the  two  great  continental  powers 
were  France  and  Spain.  Each  one  of  them  desired  to  control 
England.  There  was  a  traditional  enmity  between  England  and 
France,  due,  on  the  one  side,  to  the  humiliation  involved  in  the 
repeated  loss  of  territory  and  to  England’s  claims  to  the  French 


256 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


crown;  on  the  other,  to  the  disturbing  influence  of  France  in 
Scotland  and  the  possibility  that  the  Netherlands,  England’s  best 
market,  might  fall  into  her  rival’s  hands. 

Spain’s  desire  to  control  England,  or  at  least  to  be  friendly  with 
her,  was  due  to  the  fact  that  England  might  gain  dominion  of  the 
channel  and  the  North  Sea,  the  only  means  of  direct  communica¬ 
tion  between  Spain  and  the  Netherlands,  and  by  her  fleet  also 
greatly  injure  Spain’s  American  commerce.  Besides  this,  should 
England  join  France,  it  meant  for  Spain  the  probable  loss  of  the 
Netherlands. 

Elizabeth  and  Cecil  were  keenly  aware  of  the  situation,  and 
during  the  whole  reign  it  was  their  policy  to  play  off  one  country 
against  the  other.  If  Philip  II  in  following  out  his  Catholic 
sympathies  undertook  to  move  against  England,  Cecil  immedi¬ 
ately  made  overtures  to  France,  or  in  some  way  frightened  him 
with  the  possibility  of  a  French  alliance.  When  needful  he  would 
pursue  a  similar  line  of  action  toward  France  by  aiding  the 
Huguenots^  in  France  or  the  Protestants  in  Scotland.  In  the 
main,  during  the  earlier  years  of  Elizabeth’s  reign  it  was  the 
policy  of  both  Spain  and  England  to  keep  on  friendly  terms.  So 
important  did  Philip  judge  this  to  be  that  soon  after  Mary’s 
death  he  even  offered  to  marry  Elizabeth.  Indeed,  he  seems  to 
have  been  personally  attracted  by  her,  ■  but  she  declined  the 
alliance. 

299.  The  Marriage  Question.  —  The  question  of  the  queen’s 
marriage  was  one  which  for  a  large  part  of  her  reign  occupied  a 
very  prominent  place  ;  it  was  constantly  urged  upon  her  by  Parlia¬ 
ment,  for  the  question  of  the  succession  was  a  serious  one.  Ac¬ 
cording  to  the  usual  laws  of  inheritance  the  next  heir  to  the  English 
crown  was  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  who  was  the  wife  of  the  heir  to 
the  kingdom  of  France.  She  was  a  devoted  Catholic,  and  if  she 
succeeded  to  the  throne,  not  only  would  England  come  under 
Catholic  influence,  but  under  the  influence  of  France  as  well.  The 

1  The  Protestants  in  France  were  so  called.  The  origin  of  the  name  is  uncertain. 


GENERiVL  POLICY  OF  ELIZABETH  257 

heir,  according  to  the  will  of  Henry  VIII,  was  Catharine  Grey, 
sister  of  Lady  Jane  Grey.  Catholic  though  he  was,  Philip  could 
not  support  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  for  that  would  throw  England 
into  the  hands  of  France.  He  therefore  proposed  sundry  eligible 
suitors  to  Elizabeth,  all  of  whom  she  rejected.  Indeed,  as  has 
been  well  said,  while  she  was 
ready  to  entertain  the  idea  of 
marriage  in  general,  she  always 
found  after  a  time  some  fatal 
objection  to  each  individual 
suitor. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  it  is  not 
likely  that  Elizabeth  ever  seri¬ 
ously  intended  to  marry.  She 
was  too  fond  of  power  to  share 
it  with  any  one,  and  she  was 
shrewd  enough  to  see  that  by 
entertaining  this  or  that  matri¬ 
monial  project  she  could  gain 
time  and  avoid  committing  her¬ 
self  in  matters  of  state  policy. 

Deeper  than  this  was  the  rec¬ 
ognition  that  to  marry  a  for¬ 
eigner  would  weaken,  if  not  destroy,  the  confidence  of  the  people 
and  sacrifice  her  popularity ;  on  the  other  hand,  to  marry  an 
Englishman,  as  many  of  her  subjects  wished  her  to  do,  would 
arouse  jealousy  among  her  nobility.  She  carried  out  her  policy 
consistently,  although  more  than  once  she  involved  herself  in 
considerable  difficulty,  and  showed  how  unscrupulous  she  could  be. 
llesides  this,  by  her  vagaries  and  duplicity  she  often  placed  her 
counselors  in  positions  of  great  embarrassment. 

She  refused  to  recognize  any  successor,  and  thus  made  it  de¬ 
sirable  for  her  subjects  to  keep  her  on  the  throne,  for  those  who 
had  the  best  legal  claim  were  thoroughly  distrusted. 


William  Cecil 
Afterward  Lord  Burghley 


258 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


300.  Peace,  the  General  Policy  of  Elizabeth ;  its  Effects.  — . 
The  general  policy  of  both  Elizabeth  and  her  counselors,  particu¬ 
larly  Cecil,  was  peace.  The  loss  of  Calais  (§  281)  in  the  previous 
reign  proved  now  to  be  a  great  benefit,  for  as  England  owned  no 
territory  on  the  Continent,  she  had  no  possessions  to  defend  and 
could  keep  herself  as  much  aloof  as  she  pleased. 

One  of  the  earliest  acts  of  Cecil  was  to  call  in  the  debased  coinage 
of  the  previous  reigns  and  replace  k  as  fast  as  possible  with  coins  of 
a  definite  and  true  value.  This  brought  confidence  and  established 
trade  on  a  sound  basis.  Besides  this,  artisans  were  invited  to 
come  to  England  and  set  up  manufactories.  Others  came  in  order 
to  escape  the  persecutions  on  the  Continent.  Thus  from  Flanders 
there  came  Flemings  who  were  familiar  with  the'  manufacture  of 
lace,  cutlery,  hats,  clocks,  etc.,  and  who  were  especially  skillful  in 
the  weaving  of  flax  and  wool.  Huguenots  from  France  also  came, 
bringing  with  them  the  arts  in  which  they  were  proficient.  The 
freedom  from  wars  and  the  encouragement  received  soon  caused 
abundant  prosperity  among  manufacturers.  Increased  trade  and 
commerce  stimulated  agriculture.  The  cultivation  of  hops,  of  new 
grasses,  and  of  roots  for  winter  consumption  increased  to  a  great 
extent. 

301.  Statute  of  Apprentices,  1563  ;  Poor  Laws,  1563  ;  1601. — 
The  condition  of  the  laborer,  however,  continued  unsatisfactory. 
Though  the  price  of  food  had  risen  threefold,  wages  remained 
about  the  same.  With  the  purpose  of  improving  conditions,  two 
laws  were  passed  (1563)  ;  one,  known  as  the  Statute  of  Apprentices,^ 
fixing  hours  of  labor,  and  providing  for  the  regulation  of  wages ; 
the  other  attempting  to  provide  for  the  increasing  number  of 
paupers.  Men  were  appointed  in  each  parish  to  make  a  list  of  the 
paupers  and  of  those  who  had  property.  The  latter  were  required 
to  make  contributions  to  a  fund  for  the  support  of  the  poor.  Then, 

1  This  act  provided  that  no  person  should  be  allowed  to  work  at  a  trade  unless  he 
had  previously  served  a  seven  years’  apprenticeship.  The  duty  of  regulating  wages, 
etc.,  was  placed  upon  the  justices  of  the  peace.  This  act  was  held  not  to  apply  to 
trades  established  after  its  passage.  It  was  not  repealed  until  1814. 


SCOTLAND 


259 


SO  far  as  possible,  all  begging  was  suppressed.  This  Poor  Law 
was  somewhat  modified  in  1597  and  1601,  and  then,  with  but 
slight  changes,  remained  in  force  till  1834.  Its  effect  was  bad,  for 
it  tended  to  keep  down  wages,  the  employers  knowing  if  a  man’s 
earnings  would  not  support  him  and  his  family,  he  would  be  helped 
from  the  rates  (taxes) .  A  “  living  wage  ”  was  therefore  not  deemed 
essential. 

302.  Scotland.  1547-1559.  —  The  victory  of  Pinkie  Cleugh 
(§  265)  had  destroyed  all  hope  of  pleasant  relations  between  the 
two  countries,  and  the  Scots  had  turned  for  aid  to  France.  Mary 
of  Guise,  a  French  princess,  the  wife  of  James  V  (§  256),  had 
acted  as  regent  during  the  long  minority  of  her  daughter,  the 
young  Mary  Queen  of  Scots.  Mary  was  educated  in  France,  had 
married  the  Dauphin,  heir  to  the  French  crown,  and  there  was 
every  prospect  that  Scotland  would  become  an  appanage  of  France. 
Meantime,  however,  the  conduct  of  the  Regent  Mary  was  such  as 
to  raise  up  a  party  violently  opposed  to  her  and  to  French  influence. 
In  seeking  support  the  leaders  of  this  party  recognized  two  probable 
sources  of  aid  :  the  followers  of  the  reformed  religion,  who  had  be¬ 
come  strong  in  Scotland ;  and  Elizabeth,  to  whom  the  establish¬ 
ment  of  Catholicism  in  Scotland  would  be  a  serious  menace,  for 
Mary,  the  wife  of  the  Dauphin,  was,  according  to  Catholic  ideas, 
the  rightful  queen  of  England. 

Under  the  exactions  of  Mary  of  Guise,  Protestantism  increased 
rapidly  and  came  to  mean  also  opposition  to  France.  As  those 
who  favored  reform  in  church  doctrine  and  practice  pledged  them¬ 
selves  by  an  agreement  or  “covenant,”  they  were  called  Cove¬ 
nanters  ;  their  leaders  were  the  “  Lords  of  the  Congregation  ” ; 
most  of  these  men,  however,  cared  little  for  religion  and  joined 
the  Covenanters  only  from  motives  of  expediency. 

303.  John  Knox ;  the  Reformation  in  Scotland.  —  The  leader 
among  the  Protestants  was  John  Knox,  who  had  been  driven  into 
exile  by  Mary  of  Guise.  He  had  first  taken  refuge  in  England, 
but  on  the  death  of  Edward  VI  had  fled  to  Geneva,  where  he  be- 


26o 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


came  an  earnest  follower  of  Calvin.  In  1559  he  returned  to  Scot¬ 
land  and  was  the  life  of  the  reforming  party.  He  was  a  fearless, 
bold,  zealous  man,  of  boundless  energy  and  strength  of  will.  The 
Covenanters  rose  against  the  established  order,  pulled  down 
images,  sacked  and  destroyed  monasteries,  and  would  not  allow 
mass  to  be  celebrated.  But  these  were  the  acts  of  a  mob  rather 
than  of  an  organized  force,  and  the  body  of  men  soon  dispersed. 
Mary  of  Guise  had  received  troops  from  France,  and  the  outlook 
for  the  “  Lords  of  the  Congregation  ”  was  desperate  unless  they 
could  get  aid  from  England. 

304.  Elizabeth  and  Scotland.  1560.  —  Elizabeth,  to  whom 
rebellion  was  one  of  the  worst  sins,  found  it  hard  to  bring  herself 
to  aid  rebels,  as  the  Scots  undoubtedly  were..  Moreover,  she 
detested  John  Knox,  because  he  had  written  a  book  called  “The 
Blast  of  the  Trumpet  against  the  Monstrous  Regimen  of  Women,” 
in  which  he  denounced  in  strong  language  the  rule  of  women  as 
being  contrary  to  Scripture.  But  she  could  always  put  aside  her 
personal  feelings  if  she  chose,  and  she  determined  to  aid  the 
Scotch  Protestants.  Elizabeth  was  practically  forced  to  take  this 
step,  for  as  soon  as  the  Dauphin  became  Francis  II,  King  of 
France,  his  young  wife,  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  assumed  the  arms 
and  title  of  Queen  of  England.  (App.  i,  §  129.)  This  act  meant 
that  Elizabeth  was  charged  with  being  illegitimate  and  a  usurper, 
and  that  on  the  first  opportunity  France  would  probably  attempt 
to  enforce  the  claim  of  Mary. 

In  January,  1560,  an  English  fleet  appeared  in  the  Forth  and  con¬ 
trolled  it;  an  English  army  encamped  before  Leith,  and  with  the  help 
of  the  “  Lords  of  the  Congregation  ”  closely  invested  that  port. 
The  French  troops  suffered  from  famine  and  were  forced  to  make 
a  treaty  by  which  the  French  agreed  to  leave  Scotland  and  to 
recognize  the  right  of  Elizabeth  to  the  crown  of  England.  The 
death  of.  the  regent  helped  to  bring  about  this  peaceful  adjustment. 

305.  Mary  Stuart,  Queen  of  Scots.  —  Except  possibly  Napoleon 
Bonaparte,  no  figure  in  modern  history  has  been  the  subject  of 


MARY  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS 


261 


more  discussion  than  has  Mary  Queen  of  Scots ;  no  one  has  had 
wanner  defenders  or  more  bitter  assailants,  and  so  much  doubt  is 
still  justly  felt  as  to  her  real  character  that  it  is  impossible  to  reach 
a  thoroughly  satisfiictory  judgment  in  regard  to  her.  She  was 
about  nineteen  when  she,  a  young  widow,  reached  Scotland  (1561).^ 

She  was  beautiful,  with 
fliscinating  manners ;  she 
was  skilled  in  all  feminine 
accomplishments  and  in 
horsemanship ;  in  intel¬ 
lectual  matters  and  state¬ 
craft  she  was  hardly  in¬ 
ferior  to  Elizabeth.  She 
lacked,  however,  the  cool¬ 
ness  and  self-control  of 
her  great  rival,  and  it  was 
her  giving  way  to  her  pas¬ 
sions  that  brought  upon 
her  disaster  and  finally  a 
tragic  death. 

Mary  was  not  received 
with  enthusiasm  in  Scotland.  The  country  had  become  Protestant, 
though  many  of  the  nobles  were  Catholic  in  sympathy,  and  there 
was  no  conservative  middle  class,  as  in  England.  Mary’s  course 
was  at  first  moderate ;  she  made  no  objection  to  the  Calvinism  of 
the  people,  while  reserving  liberty  for  herself  to  have  mass  cele¬ 
brated.  By  her  skill  and  tact  she  gained  over  a  number  of  the 
nobles  to  her  side. 

306.  Mary's  Marriage  with  Darnley.  1565.  —  It  was  almost 
impossible  for  a  woman  in  Mary’s  position  to  remain  single. 
Elizabeth,  wishing  to  gain  possession  of  Scotland,  proposed  that 
the  young  widow  should  marry  Robert  Dudley,  Earl  of  Leicester, 
who  was  in  high  favor  at  the  English  court.  But  Mary  took  the 

1  Her  husband,  Francis  II  of  France,  had  died  late  in  1560.  (App.  i,  §  129.) 


After  a  contemporary  portrait 


262 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


matter  into  her  own  hands  and  married  (1565)  her  cousin,  Henry 
Stuart,  Lord  Darnley.  (Genealogical  Table,  page  186.)  He  was, 
like  herself,  a  descendant  of  Margaret,  daughter  of  Henry  VII, 
and  in  the  line  of  succession  to  the  English  crown.  He  had  been 
brought  up  in  England,  and  was  a  Catholic,  which  was  a  strong 
recommendation  to  Mary,  who  had  hopes  of  uniting  the  Catholic 
interests  of  both  countries.  Her  power  in  Scotland  was  so  limited 
that  she  longed  to  be  queen  of  England  before  Elizabeth’s  death 
might  give  her  the  throne.  It  is  likely,  therefore,  that  Darnley’s 
leadership  among  the  English  Catholics,  who  were  becoming  restive 
under  Elizabeth,  was  one  reason  for  her  marriage. 

Whatever  hopes  she  may  have  had  regarding  Darnley  were 
bitterly  disappointed.  He  was  a  frivolous,  weak-minded,  vicious 
man,  for  whom  she  could  have  had  neither  respect  nor  affection, 
and  for  counsel  and  companionship  she  turned  to  an  accom¬ 
plished  Italian,  David  Rizzio,  who  was  her  foreign  secretary. 
Darnley,  jealous  of  Rizzio,  plotted  with  some  of  the  Protestant 
nobles  to  assassinate  him.  The  conspirators  rushed  into  Mary’s 
private  supper  room  in  Holyrood  Palace  and  murdered  him 
almost  before  her  eyes.  Mary,  who  needed  Darnley’s  help  in 
carrying  out  her  own  schemes,  concealed  her  own  hatred  with  con¬ 
summate  skill,  persuaded  him  to  return  to  her,  but  forced  the 
other  assassins  to  leave  Scotland.  A  few  months  after  Rizzio’s 
murder  Mary’s  only  child  was  born,  he  who  was  to  be  James  VI 
of  Scotland  and  James  I  of  England. 

307.  Murder  of  Darnley,  1567;  Mary  marries  Bothwell. 
1567.  —  Darnley  and  Mary  quarrelled  again,  and  from  this  time 
Mary’s  serious  troubles  began.  Disgusted  with  Darnley  and  seek¬ 
ing  for  some  one  to  aid  her,  she  found  such  an  one  in  James 
Hepburn,  Earl  of  Bothwell.  He  was  a  coarse,  rough  man,  but  he 
was  brave,  masterful,  and  of  considerable  ability.^  Mary  became 
passionately  attached  to  him.  Both  she  and  Bothwell  were 

'  He  was  three  years  younger  than  Mary,  and  at  this  time  twenty-two,  the  same 
age  as  Darnley. 


MARY  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS 


263 


already  married,  and  that  difficulty  had  to  be  overcome.  Bothwell 
could  arrange  for  a  divorce,  but  there  was  no  way  to  get  rid  of  Darn- 
ley  except  by  assassination.  He  was  at  this  time  recovering  from 
a  serious  illness,  and  was  induced  to  take  up  his  quarters  in  a  lonely 
farmhouse  near  Edinburgh,  where  Mary  came  to  see  him.  One 


Holyrood  Palace,  Edinburgh 
The  principal  residence  of  the  monarchs  of  Scotland 


evening  while  she  went  to  Edinburgh  the  house  was  blown  up,  and  the 
dead  body  of  Darnley  was  found  the  next  morning  in  the  garden. 

There  has  never  been  any  doubt  that  the  murder  was  the  work 
of  Bothwell,  but  whether  Mary  was  an  accomplice  or  not  has 
never  been  known.  There  is  no  proof  that  she  took  an  active 
part  in  the  plot ;  but  there  seems  to  be  little  doubt  that  she 
was  aware  that  some  plot  existed  and  made  no  effort  to  frus¬ 
trate  it.'  An  investigation  followed  and  Bothwell  was  acquitted. 

■  The  documentary  evidence  against  Mary  was  contained  in  the  famous  “  Cas¬ 
ket  Letters."  These  were  discovered,  it  was  said,  in  a  casket  found  in  the  hands 
of  one  of  Bothwell's  followers.  They  purported  to  be  a  correspondence  between 
Mary  and  Bothwell,  and  if  genuine  were  conclusive  of  Mary’s  guilt.  Even  ex¬ 
perts  have  been  unable  to  agree  whether  any  or  all  are  genuine,  or  forged,  or  copies 
of  genuine  originals. 


264 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


So  strong  was  public  opinion  that  Mary  did  not  dare  to  marry 
openly,  so  it  was  arranged  that  he  should  apparently  carry  her 
off  by  force.  This  was  done,  and  they  were  married  by  the 
Protestant  service. 

308.  The  Scots  rebel  against  Mary ;  she  Abdicates,  1567. 
—  Mary’s  conduct  was  more  than  the  Scots  could  stand, 
and  there  was  soon  open  rebellion.  Deserted  by  his  followers, 
Bothwell  fled,  and  Mary,  having  surrendered,  was  shut  up  in 
Lochleven  Castle  (1567).  She  was  forced  to  abdicate,  and  her 
infant  son  James  was  proclaimed  as  King  James  VI,  with  the  Earl 
of  Murray,  Mary’s  half  brother,  as  regent.  In  the  spring  of  the 
following  year  (1568)  she  made  her  escape,  called  upon  her 
Catholic  subjects  for  aid,  and  attempted  to  regain  her  crown.  Her 
forces  were  defeated  at  Langside,  not  far  from  Glasgow,  and  her 
cause  became  desperate. 

309.  Mary  takes  Refuge  in  England,  1568;  Embarrassment  of 
Elizabeth.  —  Believing  that  she  would  be  safer  in  England  than 
anywhere  else,  she  fled  across  the  border,  resolving  to  throw 
herself  on  the  mercy  of  Elizabeth.  It  was  a  daring  course,  and 
one  which  placed  Elizabeth  in  an  extremely  embarrassing  posi¬ 
tion.  On  principle  she  was  opposed  to  rebellions,  but  if  Mary 
was  restored  to  Scotland,  it  would  be  sure  to  anger  Elizabeth’s 
Protestant  allies  in  that  country  ;  if  she  was  allowed  to  go  to 
France,  conspiracies  would  instantly  be  formed  to  place  her  on 
the  English  throne  to  which  she  was  the  legal  heir ;  if  she  re¬ 
mained  in  England,  she  would  be  a  center  around  which  the 
English  Catholics  could  rally,  and  she  might  be  even  more 
dangerous  than  if  she  was  in  France. 

As  usual,  Elizabeth  pursued  a  dilatory  policy.  Pier  chief  aim 
seems  to  have  been  to  present  Mary’s  conduct  in  such  a  light  that 
no  foreign  power  could  consistently  support  her.  First  of  all, 
Elizabeth,  with  questionable  right,*  insisted  that  an  investigation 
should  be  made  into  the  murder  of  Darnley,  and  a  commission  of 
1  Mary  was  a  foreigner,  an  ex-queen,  and  not  an  English  subject. 


PLOTS  AGAINST  ELIZABETH 


265 


investigation  was  held  first  at  York  and  later  at  London.*  No  de¬ 
cision  was  made,  however,  as  Elizabeth  suddenly  changed  her 
mind  and  the  charges  were  dropped.  All  this  time  Mary  refused 
to  answer  the  charges,  to  recognize  the  commission,  or  to  make 
any  concessions  whatever.  Elizabeth  resolved  to  keep  Mary  in 
honorable  imprisonment,  and  to  await  results.  This  policy,  based 
on  expediency,  brought  a  train  of  trouble  after  it.  For  nearly 
twenty  years  plot  after  plot  was  framed  to  put  Mary  on  the  English 
throne,  and  she  can  hardly  be  blamed  that  either  directly  or  indi¬ 
rectly  she  should  lend  her  aid  or  countenance  to  them. 

310.  Plots,  1569;  Excommunication  of  Elizabeth.  1570. — 
A  serious  effort  to  displace  Elizabeth  was  made  under  the  lead  of 
two  prominent  earls of  the  northern  counties.  Elizabeth  acted 
promptly  and  the  rebellion  was  put  down.  Though  not  fond  of 
bloodshed,  she  showed  no  leniency.  The  chiefs  escaped,  but  four 
or  five  men  of  rank  were  executed,  and  seven  hundred  of  the 
lower  classes  were  put  to  death  without  mercy.  The  thorough 
manner  in  which  the  rebellion  was  put  down  greatly  strengthened 
Elizabeth’s  position,  and  there  was  no  other  revolt  during  her 
reign.  Those  who  plotted  against  her  could  plan  for  nothing  but 
her  assassination. 

According  to  the  Catholics  Elizabeth  was  illegitimate,  having 
been  born  during  the  lifetime  of  Catherine  of  Aragon,  whose 
divorce  in  their  view  had  been  illegal  and  therefore  null  and  void. 
Hence  in  their  view  she  had  no  legal  claim  to  the  hlnglish  throne, 
of  which  Mary  was  the  rightful  claimant.  Heretofore,  owing  to 
the  condition  of  European  politics,  no  direct  action  against  Eliza¬ 
beth  had  been  taken  by  the  popes.  In  1566  Pius  V  had  come  to 
the  throne.  He  was  a  fiery  and  impetuous  man,  zealous  for  his 
church,  and  filled  with  an  intense  desire  to  recover  the  dominions 
which  had  been  lost  to  Rome.  Without  taking  counsel  of  his 

1  It  was  before  this  commission  that  the  Casket  Letters  were  produced  (§  307, 
note). 

2  Thomas  Percy,  Earl  of  Northumberland,  and  Charles  Neville,  Earl  of  West¬ 
minster. 


266 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


royal  supporters,  he  issued  a  Bull  *  of  excommunication  against 
Elizabeth,  depriving  her  of  her  kingdom,  absolving  her  people 
from  their  allegiance,  and  commanding  them  not  to  obey  her  or 
her  legislation  (1570).  This  action  on  the  part  of  the  Pope  did 
two  things :  (i)  it  made  an  irreparable  breach  between  England 
and  Rome  so  long  as  Elizabeth  lived;  and  (2)  it  forced  English¬ 
men  either  to  obey  the  Pope  and  thus  make  common  cause  with 
his  supporters  such  as  Spain  ;  or  to  give  unqualified  obedience  and 
support  to  Elizabeth,  and  hence  to  Protestantism,  for  the  Bull 
compelled  her  to  uphold  the  Protestant  party.  The  Catholics  in 
England,  therefore,  were  marked  out  for  suspicion,  through  no 
fault  of  their  own.  The  Pope  had  placed  them  in  a  position  which 
they  did  not  wish  to  assume,  but  which  they  could  not  very  well 
disavow.  To  obey  the  Pope  in  things  spiritual  seemed  to  involve 
a  political  duty  to  deny  the  legitimacy  of  their  queen  and  to  dis¬ 
obey  the  law  of  their  country.  That  in  this  period  of  terrible 
strain  so  many  Catholics  held  true  both  to  their  spiritual  faith  and 
to  their  patriotism  is  greatly  to  their  credit. 

311.  Persecution  of  Catholics  ;  the  “  Counter-Reformation.”  — 
More  serious  still  were  the  persecutions  of  the  Catholics  to  which 
the  Pope’s  action  led,  and  which  are  a  sad  blot  on  Elizabeth’s 
reign.  It  was  the  political  bitterness  which  caused  the  relentless¬ 
ness  of  her  measures.  Had  not  this  been  present,  it  is  hardly 
likely  that  any  person  would  have  suffered  death.  As  it  was, 
every  Catholic  was  suspected  of  being  a  traitor,  if  not  an  assassin, 
and  in  the  light  of  that  day  it  cannot  be  wondered  at  that  Eliza¬ 
beth  and  her  advisers  acted  as  they  did.  On  the  Continent  the 
reaction  against  the  Reformation  known  as  the  Counter-Reforma¬ 
tion  was  well  under  way.  If  England  could  be  regained,  thought 
the  Catholics,  not  only  would  that  land  come  under  Catholicism, 
a  thing  in  itself  greatly  to  be  desired,  but  one  of  the  strongest 
supports  .of  Protestantism  would  be  withdrawn.  Very  naturally, 

1  On  the  isth  of  May  this  Bull  was  found  tacked  on  the  door  of  the  palace  of 
the  Bishop  of  London. 


MARY  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS  26 J 

therefore,  great  efforts  were  made  to  bring  England  back  to  the 
fold.  (App.  I,  §§  137-140.) 

312.  The  Ridolfi  Plot.  1571.  —  It  was  inevitable  that  Mary 
Queen  of  Scots,  the  legal  heir,  to  the  English  throne,  should  be  the 
center  of  all  conspiracies.  Elizabeth  was  now  to  reap  the  troubles 
she  had  sown  by  her  harsh  treatment  of  Mary  and  by  her  shifty 
policy. 

In  1572  a  new  plot  ^  was  formed  to  assassinate  Elizabeth  and 
Cecil,  put  Mary  on  the  throne,  and  restore  Catholicism.  It  was 
discovered  in  season,  and  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  who  in  case  of 
success  was  to  have  married  Mary,  was  put  to  death.  Parliament 
demanded  Mary’s  execution  also,  declaring  her  to  be  a  “  con¬ 
tinual  menace  to  the  realm,”  but  Elizabeth  could  not  make  up  her 
mind  to  this  extreme  measure. 

313.  St.  Bartholomew’s  Day,  1572;  Revolt  of  the  Netherlands. 
1579. — Meantime  the  struggle  between  Catholicism  and  Protes¬ 
tantism  was  still  going  on  in  France,  and  what  is  known  as  “  the 
massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew’s  Day  ”  nearly  ended  friendly  rela¬ 
tions  between  England  and  France. 

The  king  of  Spain  also  had  been  trying  in  vain  to  force  his  sub¬ 
jects  in  the  Netherlands  to  become  Catholics  and  accept  his  des¬ 
potic  rule.  They  had  finally  broken  into  open  revolt,  and  in  1579 
the  northern  provinces  formed  a  union  and  chose  William,  Prince 
of  Orange,  for  their  head. 

314.  Jesuit  Missionaries  in  England  ;  Philip  II.  —  In  England 
Catholicism  was  losing  ground,  though  there  were  zealots  who 
hoped  to  restore  it  to  its  former  influence.  Mainly  through  their 
efforts  Jesuit  missionaries  were  sent  from  the  Continent  to  dissemi¬ 
nate  their  faith  among  the  English  people.  Parliament  passed 
rigid  laws  against  all  who  failed  to  attend  the  Established  Church, 
and  persecution  was  renewed.  The  Catholics  became  openly 
hostile,  and  the  murder  of  William  of  Orange  by  a  Catholic  fanatic 

1  It  was  known  as  the  Ridolfi  plot  from  the  name  of  an  Italian  agent  of  the  con¬ 
spirators. 


268 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


in  1584  deepened  the  distrust  with  which  they  were  regarded  by 
the  queen’s  adherents.  In  1585  the  Netherlands  invited  Elizabeth 
to  be  their  ruler,  but  she  refused. 

Philip  n,  provoked  by  Elizabeth’s  secret  aid  to  the  Nether¬ 
lands,  and  angry  at  the  depredations  of  Spanish  ships  by  English 
seamen,  which  the  English  government  winked  at,  began  to  take 
actively  hostile  measures  by  giving  aid  to  the  various  conspiracies 
which  threatened  the  queen’s  life.  (App.  i,  §§  135,  136.) 

315.  Further  Plots.  —  Elizabeth  was  now  in  a  very  dangerous 
position.  The  policy  of  France  under  the  new  king  was  not  a 
friendly  one ;  the  religious  struggles  in  that  country  overshadowed 
any  other  interest.  The  assassination  of  William  of  Orange  had 
left  the  Netherlands  without  a  head,  and  Philip  was  free  to  act. 
Another  plot  was  discovered  to  assassinate  Elizabeth  and  set  Mary 
on  the  throne  by  the  aid  of  Spain  and  the  French  Catholics  of  the 
Guise  party  in  France.  The  Spanish  ambassador  was  implicated 
and  forced  to  leave  the  country.  The  leader,  Francis  Throgmor¬ 
ton,  was  executed.  This  plot  led  to  what  was  called  the  Bond  of 
Association,  an  agreement  signed  by  thousands,  both  Protestants 
and  Catholics.  It  bound  the  signers  in  the  event  of  the  assassina¬ 
tion  of  Elizabeth  to  hold  the  person  responsible  for  whose  benefit 
the  act  might  be  committed,  and  to  bar  such  person  absolutely  from 
the  succession.  Though  no  name  was  mentioned,  Mary  Queen  of 
Scots  was  meant.  Further,  any  signer  who  refused  to  carry  out 
this  oath-bound  agreement  was  to  be  held  guilty  of  treason.  Par¬ 
liament  was  soon  convened,  and  the  Bond  was  authorized  by  law. 

It  was  plain  to  Elizabeth’s  Council  that  so  long  as  Mary  Queen 
of  Scots  was  alive  she  would  be  the  center  of  plots  which  would  be 
dangerous,  not  only  to  Elizabeth,  but  to  the  peace  of  the  kingdom. 
No  one  could  blame  Mary  for  trying  to  escape  from  captivity,  but 
it  was  believed  that  she  was  implicated  in  all  the  plots  against  the 
life  of  Elizabeth.  Her  confinement  was  made  more  rigid,  and  she 
was  put  under  the  care  of  Sir  Amyas  Paulet,  a  strict  Puritan. 
She  was  surrounded  with  spies,  and,  unknown  to  her,  all  her  cor- 


EXECUTION  OF  MARY  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS 


269 


respondence  passed  through  Walsingham’s  hands.  It  was  not 
long  before  there  was  another  plot  (1586).  This  is  known  as 
Babington’s  plot,  from  the  young  Catholic  gentleman  who  was 
one  of  the  leaders.  Enough  evidence  was  found  to  warrant  a 
judicial  investigation,  and  Walsingham  produced  copies  of  letters 
from  Mary  to  Babington  signifying  her  approval  of  what  was 


London  Bridge  in  the  Time  of  Eliz.\beth 


going  on.  Under  torture,  or  threats  of  torture,  the  conspirators 
confessed,  and  were  tried,  condemned,  and  executed. 

316.  Trial  and  Execution  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots.  1587.  —  It 
was  impossible  for  Elizabeth  to  ignore  the  charges  against  Mary, 
and  a  commission  was  appointed  to  try  her.  This  sat  first  at 
Fotheringay  Castle,  Northamptonshire,  where  she  was  confined, 
and  then  at  Westminster.  Mary  denied  both  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  court  and  her  complicity  in  Babington’s  plot.  The  court, 
however,  unanimously  found  her  guilty,  but  left  her  sentence  for 
the  queen  and  Parliament  to  fix.  Parliament  when  it  met  peti¬ 
tioned  the  queen  for  the  execution  of  Mary,  a  proceeding  which 
seems  to  have  met  with  approbation  from  the  majority  of  the 
people.  Elizabeth  was  in  a  difficult  position.  Whatever  she  did 
she  would  incur  blame.  She  certainly  appears  at  her  worst  in 


270 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


this  emergency.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  so  far  as  she  was 
personally  concerned,  she  did  not  desire  to  put  Mary  to  death, 
but  she  did  wish  to  evade  all  responsibility  in  the  matter.  She 
prorogued  Parliament  without  giving  any  definite  answer  to  its 
appeal,  and  she  tried  in  vain  to  get  some  acknowledgment  or 
promise  from  Mary,  who,  insisting  on  her  innocence,  refused  to 
admit  or  promise  anything.  The  Royal  Council  felt  as  strongly 
as  Parliament  that  swift  action  must  be  taken,  and  finally  Elizabeth 
signed  the  death  warrant.  Then  she  tried  through  the  Secretary 
to  get  Sir  Amyas  Paulet  to  put  Mary  to  death  under  the  terms  of 
the  Bond  of  Association,  a  suggestion  which  -was  indignantly  re¬ 
jected  by  Paulet. 

At  last  the  Council  took  matters  into  its  own  hands  and  sent 
the  warrant  to  Northamptonshire.  On  February  8,  1587  (O.  S.), 
in  the  great  hall  of  Fotheringay  Castle,  Mary  was  beheaded, 
maintaining  her  dignity  to  the  last.  She  disinherited  her  son 
James  and  left  her  claim  to  the  English  throne  to  Isabella,  daugh¬ 
ter  of  Philip  II  of  Spain,  and  a  lineal  descendant  of  John,  Duke 
of  Gaunt,  son  of  Edward  III. 

317.  Elizabeth  and  the  Execution.  1587.  —  When  Elizabeth 
heard  of  the  execution  she  behaved  as  if  she  were  beside  herself. 
She  protested  that  she  had  intended  to  pardon  Mary,  threw  all 
the  blame  upon  her  Council,  and  wreaked  her  real  or  assumed 
anger  on  Burghley  and  Davison,  the  Secretary,  through  whom  the 
warrant  had  been  dispatched.  Davison  was  dismissed  from  the 
public  service  and  condemned  to  pay  an  enormous  fine,  which 
ruined  him.  To  France  and  Scotland,  the  two  countries  most 
interested,  the  queen  sent  word  that  the  deed  was  the  work  of  the 
Council,  and  not  her  own,  certainly  a  piece  of  transparent  hypoc¬ 
risy.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  execution  of  Mary  placed  Elizabeth 
in  a  stronger  position  than  ever,  for  it  removed  the  only  one 
around  wfiom  the  Catholics  and  the  Catholic  powers  could  rally. 
James  VI  of  Scotland,  son  of  Mary,  who  stood  next  in  the  succes¬ 
sion,  recognized  by  all  as  legitimate,  was  a  Protestant ;  Isabella’s 


EXECUTIONS  IN  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY 


271 


claim,  shadowy  as  it  was,  involved  Spanish  influence,  and  neither 
France  nor  any  other  power  would  do  anything  to  make  England 
an  appanage  of  Spain.  In  England  the  death  of  Mary  ended  any 
likelihood  of  domestic  revolt.  No  one  would  kill  Elizabeth  to  put 
James  on  the  throne,  and,  as  always,  Englishmen  hated  interfer¬ 
ence  from  abroad. 

318.  Assassinations  and  Executions  in  the  Sixteenth  Century.  — 
However  one  of  the  present  day  may  feel  in  regard  both  to 
Elizabeth  and  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  they  must  be  judged  by  the 
standards  of  their  day.  There  is  no  doubt  that  assassination  was 
a  recognized  method  of  getting  an  enemy  out  of  the  way — it  was 
not  looked  upon  as  a  heinous  crime,  though  a  perpetrator  should 
be  punished  if  discovered.  This  was  especially  true  on  the 
Continent.  The  annals  of  the  continental  powers  during  the 
fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries  are  full  of  instances.  Even  in 
England  a  political  murder  was  not  objected  to,  provided  it  was 
done  under  color  of  law.  There  was  no  general  objection  raised 
to  the  execution  of  Sir  Thomas  More,  or  of  Fisher,  or  even  of 
Lady  Jane  Grey.  It  is  almost  certain  that  many  nobles  were 
concerned  in  the  murder  of  Darnley  and  were  fully  as  guilty  as 
Mary.  In  her  case  it  was  not  the  murder  of  Darnley,  but  the 
marriage  with  Bothwell,  that  raised  the  hatred  of  her  subjects.  It 
made  them  sure  that  it  was  not  politics,  but  personal  passion,  which 
was  the  motive.  The  execution  of  Mary  was  not  objected  to  by 
the  people  of  England,  because  it  was  purely  a  political  deed. 
As  long  as  she  lived  she  was  a  menace  to  the  peace  of  flngland, 
she  was  the  center  of  plots,  her  accession  would  have  brought  on 
civil  war,  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  Parliament  and  the 
English  people  were  more  than  ready  to  assume  the  responsibility 
of  her  death. 

319.  England  and  the  Sea;  Drake.  1577-1580.  —  Up  to  the 
time  of  Elizabeth  the  dominion  of  the  seas  had  been  held  by  Spain 
and  Portugal.  The  discoveries  of  Columbus  and  the  other  early 
explorers  aroused  the  English  and  led  to  the  expedition  of  the 


272 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


Cabots,  which  was  followed  in  time  by  private  enterprises. 
Martin  Frobisher  in  1576  and  1577  had  explored  Labrador  and 
Newfoundland;  John  Davis,  second  only  to  Drake  as  an  explorer, 
had  discovered  the  straits  which  bear  his  name ;  Sir  John  Haw¬ 
kins,  in  1562  and  in  1564,  made  two  expeditions  to  the  Guinea 
coast  to  kidnap  or  buy  cargoes  of  slaves  to  be  sold  to  the  Spaniards 
in  the  West  Indies,  and  thus  started  that  traffic  which  was  to  bring 
such  untold  suffering  and  difficulty  upon  America.  Ten  years 
earlier  than  this,  Willoughby  had  opened  trade  between  England 
and  Russia,  then  called  Muscovy.  The  Company  of  Merchant 
Adventurers  in  London  sought  out  various  channels  of  trade  in 
the  Baltic  and  elsewhere. 

But  the  most  daring  and  fruitful  expedition  was  that  of  Francis 
Drake.  Drake  had  made  a  voyage  to  Panama,  and  having  as¬ 
cended  one  of  the  mountains  and  caught  sight  of  the  Pacific,  he 
vowed  that  one  day  he  would  spread  the  English  flag  upon  that 
ocean.  It  was  not  till  1577  that  he  had  the  opportunity.  Then 
he  set  sail  with  five  small  vessels  and  succeeded  in  reaching  the 
Pacific  by  way  of  the  Straits  of  Magellan  with  one  ship,  the  Pelican, 
afterwards  called  the  Golden  Hind.  He  secured  an  immense 
amount  of  plunder  from  the  unsuspecting  Spaniards,  visited  the 
coast  of  California,  crossed  the  Pacific,  and  rounding  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  reached  England  after  three  years  of  adventure. 
He  was  the  first  explorer  who  had  personally  completed  a  circum¬ 
navigation  of  the  globe.^  His  exploit  filled  the  English  nation 
with  pride,  and  Elizabeth,  visiting  the  Golden  Hind,  knighted  him 
on  the  deck.  Philip  1 1  of  Spain,  angry  at  Drake’s  plundering  and 
at  the  continual  seizure  of  Spanish  vessels  by  English  adventurers, 
demanded  reparation. 

320.  Maritime  Codes  in  the  Sixteenth  Century.  —  The  condi¬ 
tion  of  affairs  at  sea  in  the  sixteenth  century  must  not  be  judged 
by  the  standards  of  the  twentieth.  While  there  is  no  doubt  that 
there  was  a  great  deal  of  real  piracy,  the  actions  of  Drake  and  his 
1  Magellan  had  died  on  the  return  voyage. 


ENGLAND  AND  THE  SEA 


273 


contemporaries  were  not  considered  as  such,  nor  should  they  be. 
While  it  is  true  that  private  gain  had  perhaps  much  influence  with 
the  English  adventurers,  the  sea  was  still  a  place  where  each  man 
had  to  look  after  his  own  interests,  and  one  could  not  complain 
much  if  he  and  his  property  were  seized  by  some  freebooter.  It 
should  also  be  re¬ 
membered  that  the 
bloodthirstiness  and 
cruelties  of  the  genu¬ 
ine  pirate  were  wholly 
absent  from  Drake  and 
his  fellows ;  they  felt 
themselves,  in  short, 
to  be  knights-errant, 
who  were  doing  both 
God  and  their  country 
high  service  in  de¬ 
spoiling  “idolaters,”  as 
they  styled  their  ene¬ 
mies  and  those  of 
their  country,  while  at 
the  same  time  they 
were  filling  their  own 
pockets  with  gold. 

English  vessels  and  crews  were  seized  in  Spanish  ports,  Englishmen 
were  taken  and  put  to  torture  or  even  to  death,  and  yet  Philip 
would  not  interfere.  In  view  of  this  action,  neither  he  nor  any 
one  else  could  blame  the  English  for  making  reprisals  in  the  only 
way  possible. 

These  years  of  adventure  and  exploration  gave  England  an  un¬ 
surpassed  race  of  sailors,  bold,  energetic,  skillful,  and  ready  in. 
emergencies. 

321.  Philip  II  and  England.  1587.  —  After  the  death  of 
Mary  Queen  of  Scots  Philip  resolved  to  attack  Elizabeth,  for 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


274 

while  Mary  lived  he  was  always  fearful  lest  she  should  be  placed 
upon  the  throne,  and  then  join  France.  He  began  to  collect  a 
fleet  for  the  purpose  of  attacking  England.  Philip’s  plans  were 
known  in  England  and  Drake  was  commanded  to  sail  from 
Plymouth  in  order  —  in  his  own  language  —  “  to  singe  the  king  of 
Spain’s  beard.”  The  dayappointed  forsailing  was  April  12,  1587. 
No  one  knew  Elizabeth  better  than  did  Drake,  and  so  he  set  sail 
before  the  appointed  day.  Countermanding  orders  came  in  due 
time,  but  Drake  was  out  at  sea,  and  Elizabeth  could  disavow  his 
action  if  she  wished.  Drake  entered  the  harbor  of  Cadiz,  sunk 
one  man-of-war,  set  fire  to  most  of  the  others  in  that  port,  and 
seized  all  the  stores  he  could.  On  his  return  voyage  he  captured 
a  large  Spanish  East  Indiaman,  and  reached  home  in  safety  after 
crippling  the  Spanish  navy  for  a  year  at  least.  (App.  i,  §  138.) 

322.  English  and  Spanish  Fleets.  1588.  —  Philip  was  furious 
and  doubled  his  preparations  for  a  grand  effort  against  England ; 
he  would  have  made  the  attempt  in  the  winter  of  1587-1588  had 
not  his  admiral  died.  But  for  this  England  would  have  been 
caught  unprepared.  Spain  had  collected  a  fleet  of  about  one 
hundred  and  thirty  ships,  the  largest  of  which  were  about  three 
hundred  tons.  To  meet  this  fleet  England  had  gathered  one 
hundred  and  ninety-seven  ships,  but  they  were  much  smaller  than 
the  Spanish  vessels  and  the  aggregated  tonnage  was  about  one 
half.  On  the  other  hand,  the  English  vessels  were  better  armed, 
were  manned  by  trained  seamen,  and  commanded  by  the  most 
skillful  sea  captains  of  the  time.  T'he  English  relied  upon  their 
skill,  their  quickness  of  movement,  and  the  excellence  of  their 
artillery.  The  Spaniards  looked  upon  their  fleet  chiefly  as  a 
means  for  transporting  troops ;  the  English  expected  to  fight  their 
battles  on  the  sea. 

323.  The  “  Invincible  Armada.”  1588.  —  After  several  attempts 
theSpanish  “Invincible  Armada,”  as  it  was  called,  set  sail  in  July, 
1588,  under  the  command  of  the  Duke  of  Medina  Sidonia,  who,  to 
his  credit,  had  done  all  that  he  could  to  dissuade  Philip  from  the 


THE  SPANISH  ARMADA 


275 


undertaking.  The  English  fleet  was  commanded  by  Lord  Charles 
Howard  of  Effingham,  and  under  him  were  Drake,  Hawkins, 
Frobisher,  and  other  successful  seamen.  Howard  and  his  sub¬ 
ordinates  were  in  thorough  sympathy.  The  Armada  reached  the 
English  Channel  on  July  19th.  The  wind  was  from  the  south  and 
favorable  for  the  Spaniards.  Howard  allowed  the  enemy  to  pass 
him  and  then  followed.  In  this  way  he  had  the  advantage  of 


The  Spanish  Armada  in  the  English  Channel 

After  an  engraving  by  the  Society  of  Antiquarians  following  a  tapestry  in  the 
House  of  Lords 


attacking  from  the  windward  side.  The  English  ships  kept  up  a 
running  fight  until  the  Armada  reached  Calais,  by  which  time  ship 
after  ship  had  been  captured.  The  Spaniards  were  forced  from 
their  shelter  by  fire  ships  sent  among  them  by  the  English.  A 
severe  naval  engagement  then  took  place,  and  though  the  Spaniards 
fought  bravely,  the  skill  of  the  English  in  handling  their  vessels 
gave  them  the  victory.  The  wind,  still  blowing  strongly  from  the 
south,  compelled  the  Spaniards  to  sail  to  the  north  and  try  to  go 
around  the  British  Isles  and  so  return  to  Spain.  They  met  with 
severe  storms,  many  ships  were  Wrecked  off  the  coasts  of  Scotland 


276 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


and  Ireland,  and  scarcely  half  of  the  Armada  reached  Spain.  The 
English  were  filled  with  almost  uncontrollable  joy,  for  the  greatest 
danger  which  had  ever  menaced  them  was  at  an  end.  They 
recognized  that  the  elements  had  much  to  do  with  the  complete¬ 
ness  of  the  victory,  for  on  a  medal  struck  in  commemoration  of 
the  event  are  the  words,  “  God  blew  with  his  wind  and  they  were 
scattered.”  Philip  bore  his  losses  in  a  fine  spirit,  saying  to  his 
admiral,  “I  sent  you  to  fight  against  men,  not  with  the  winds.” 

324.  Result  of  the  Spanish  Defeat.  —  The  results  of  the  failure 
of  Spain  can  hardly  be  overestimated.  It  not  only  delivered 
England  from  fear  of  a  foreign  domination,  but  it  gave  her  con¬ 
fidence  in  her  own  strength ;  it  established  her  as  a  Protestant  na¬ 
tion  ;  it  showed  her  that  her  opportunity  lay  in  maritime  affairs 
and  made  her  a  great  naval  power ;  it  united  all  factions  for  the 
time  being  and  created  a  national  spirit  which  was  never  lost. 
To  the  world  at  large  the  results  were  scarcely  less  important.  It 
guaranteed  the  freedom  of  the  United  Netherlands;  and  it  dealt 
a  fatal  blow  to  the  supremacy  of  Spain  in  Europe. 

The  war  with  Spain  was  not  ended,  though  Philip  would  gladly 
have  made  terms.  The  conflict  was  upon  the  seas,  and  the  Eng¬ 
lish  made  many  attacks  upon  Spain  ;  but,  though  Drake,  Hawkins, 
and  Howard  were  the  leaders,  the  war  dragged  on  until  after  the 
death  of  both  Philip  and  Elizabeth  (1603). 

325.  Religious  Difficulties.  —  Notwithstanding  the  national 
feeling  in  England,  there  were  still  petty  jealousies,  and,  more 
dangerous  than  these,  a  real  difference  of  opinion  concerning 
religion.  The  sympathy  with  Calvinism  and  the  Presbyterian 
methods,  which  the  refugees  of  the  time  of  Mary  brought  back 
with  them,  was  not  lessened  as  the  years  went  by.  The  Catholics 
wished  to  enjoy  their  religion  undisturbed;  the  Puritans  wished 
to  change  the  national  church  altogether  and  to  do  away  with 
bishops  and  episcopacy.  The  leading  advocate  of  this  latter  move¬ 
ment  was  Thomas  Cartwright  of  Cambridge,  a  professor  of  divinity. 
There  were  still  others,  though  comparatively  few,  who  separated 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS 


277 


entirely  from  the  church  and  set  up  congregations  of  their  own  so 
that  they  could  worship  in  the  manner  that  seemed  to  them  right. 
These  were  called  Separatists,  and  sometimes  Brownists,  after  one 
of  their  principal  leaders,  Robert  Browne.  These  were  the  first 
Congregationalists,  and  from  them  came  the  Pilgrims  of  New 
England  and  later  the  Independents,  who  played  so  important  a 
part  in  the  reign  of  Charles  I. 

To  Elizabeth  anything  but  uniformity  was  hateful,  and  acts 
were  passed  by  Parliament  to  compel  conformity  to  the  Church  of 
England.  Those  who  refused  to  attend  the  church  services,  or 
who  denied  the  authority  of  the  queen  in  ecclesiastical  matters, 
were  to  be  imprisoned  until  they  submitted.  Stronger  laws  were 
also  passed  against  the  Catholics,  and  under  these  laws  prosecu¬ 
tions  took  place  which  led  to  several  executions,  though  not  explic¬ 
itly  on  religious  grounds,  but  on  the  charge  of  stirring  up  sedition. 

326.  Foreign  Affairs.  —  It  was  impossible  for  Elizabeth  to  keep 
out  of  European  politics,  much  as  she  desired  to  do  so.  The 
struggle  with  Spain  led  her  to  take  part  in  French  affairs. 
Henry  III  of  France  was  a  weak  man  and  his  heir  w'as  Henry 
of  Navarre,  a  Protestant  and  a  leader  of  the  Huguenots.  It  was 
the  policy  of  Philip  to  prevent  this  succession,  but  when  Henry  HI 
was  assassinated,  Henry  of  Navarre  ^  became  king,  Elizabeth  aiding 
him  with  troops.  It  was  not  long  before  he  saw  that  his  throne 
could  never  be  secure  while  he  was  a  Protestant ;  he  therefore 
became  a  Catholic  and  soon  made  peace  with  Philip.  Henry, 
however,  gave  his  Protestant  subjects  toleration  by  the  famous 
Edict  of  Nantes  (April  15,  1598).  (App.  i,  §§  130,  131.) 

327.  Ireland.  —  Meanwhile  Pdizabeth  had  a  problem  on  hand 
which  had  been  a  more  or  less  difficult  one  for  every  English 
government  since  the  time  of  Henry  II  (1171)  —  the  Irish  ques¬ 
tion.  During  the  reigns  of  Edward  VI  and  Mary  affairs  in  Ireland 

1  Henry  of  Navarre  was  the  first  king  of  the  Bourbon  family;  this  famous 
dynasty  reigned  over  France  till  the  French  Revolution  (1792).  The  House  of 
Valois  had  held  the  throne  since  1328. 


278 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


had  been  very  unsatisfactory.  All  efforts  to  establish  Protestantism 
had  been  unsuccessful. 

Under  Elizabeth,  matters  for  twenty  years  or  more  were  no  bet¬ 
ter.  She  was  unable  and  unwilling  to  send  an  army  large  enough 
to  subdue  the  island,  and  the  Irish  would  not  put  aside  their  own 
petty  quarrels  to  unite  for  the  general  good.  Matters  were  further 
complicated  by  the  landing  of  a  body  of  troops  led  by  a  Sir  James 
Fitzmaurice  under  the  authority  of  the  Pope  and  with  the  aid  and 
countenance  of  Philip  II,  with  the  object  of  injuring  Elizabeth  and 
gaining  Ireland  politically  for  the  Catholic  cause.  The  effort  was 
a  failure.  An  insurrection  in  Munster  (1579)  under  the  leader¬ 
ship  of  the  Earl  of  Desmond,  the  head  of  the  great  Fitzgerald 
family,  was  ruthlessly  put  down  after  four  years’  strife,  and  thou¬ 
sands  perished  chiefly  from  want  and  destitution. 

The  English  with  a  strange  inconsistency  followed  the  same 
methods  with  the  Irish  which  they  condemned  so  violently  in  the 
Spaniards.  Munster  was  desolated  and  the  most  of  the  territory 
forfeited  to  the  crown.  It  was  divided  among  the  English  adven¬ 
turers,  who,  in  the  end,  were  compelled  to  let  the  lands  to  Irish 
tenants,  and  thus  set  up  a  system  of  absentee  landlordism.  It 
must  be  said,  however,  for  the  credit  of  Elizabeth  and  Burghley 
that  they  were  opposed  to  this  policy  of  extermination. 

328.  Irish  Rebellion.  1598-1602.  —  For  ten  or  twelve  years 
Ireland  was  in  comparative  quiet,  but  trouble  arose,  partly  from 
the  attacks  of  the  Irish  on  the  few  English  settlers,  whose  treat¬ 
ment  of  the  natives  was  such  as  to  provoke  resentment ;  partly 
from  the  lawless  and  cruel  treatment  of  the  inhabitants  by  the 
troops  left  without  pay  ;  partly  from  natural  hatred  of  the  English. 
This  new  rebellion  broke  out  in  Ulster.  Here  the  Irish  chiefs 
united  and  placed  themselves  under  the  Earl  of  Tyrone.  Tyrone 
gained  a  victory  over  the  English  forces  and  the  greater  part  of 
Ireland  rallied  to  his  support.  This  was  the  first  national  and  re¬ 
ligious  revolt  against  England.  Largely  through  his  own  efforts 
the  Earl  of  Essex  was  sent  to  Ireland  to  put  down  the  rebellion, 


ESSEX  .AND  LEICESTER 


279 


but  he  was  unsuccessful  ;  and  it  was  not  until  1602,  under  Lord 
Mountjoy,  that  the  rebellion  was  finally  crushed  by  a  policy  of 
starvation  and  extermination. 

329.  Earl  of  Essex.  —  In  the  early  part  of  Elizabeth’s  reign 
two  young  English  noblemen  had  been  spoken  of  as  possible 
suitors  for  her  hand.  One  was  the  Earl  of  Essex,  the  other  the 
Earl  of  Leicester.  After  the  death  of  Essex,  Leicester  married 
his  widow,  and  when  her  son,  the  young  Earl  of  Essex,  grew  up, 
gave  him  a  position  in  his  company  of  soldiers.  This  youth,  who 
became  one  of  the  queen’s  later  favorites,  was  a  man  of  consider¬ 
able  ability,  but  he  had  an  overwhelming  sense  of  his  own  im¬ 
portance  and  his  attitude  toward  Elizabeth  was  often  rude  and 
presumptuous.  It  is  said  that  she  was  once  so  offended  by  his 
lack  of  good  manners  that  she  boxed  his  ears. 

Essex  was  brave  but  rash,  and  his  impatience  with  Elizabeth’s 
methods  often  led  him  into  serious  difficulties.  His  failure  in 
Ireland  brought  him  back  hastily  to  explain  matters  to  the  queen. 
Bursting  into  her  presence  without  regard  to  his  muddy  and  travel- 
stained  appearance,  he  made  his  excuse  for  his  ill  success.  The 
queen  decided  that  he  needed  to  be  taught  a  lesson  and  ordered 
him  to  be  placed  in  temporary  confinement.  He  was  tried  for 
exceeding  his  orders,  and  his  various  offices  were  taken  away  from 
him,  but  in  time  he  was  granted  his  freedom.  Counting  upon  his 
general  popularity  to  regain  his  position,  Essex  marched  into  Lon¬ 
don  at  the  head  of  a  small  body  of  men  to  compel  the  queen  to 
reinstate  him  and  to  dismiss  his  enemies.  He  was  promptly  arrested 
and  convicted  of  treason..  Very  reluctantly  Elizabeth  signed  his 
death  warrant,  and  he  was  executed  in  1600. 

330.  Literary  Development;  New  Statesmen;  Raleigh. — The 
years  succeeding  the  defeat  of  the  Spanish  Armada  were  very 
prosperous  for  England  ;  the  whole  nation  was  full  of  enthusiasm  ; 
there  were  no  foes  to  fear,  and  the  energy  which  had  been  so  con¬ 
spicuously  displayed  in  naval  and  military  fields  now  found  an 
outlet  in  commerce,  exploration,  settlement,  and,  above  all,  in  the 


28o 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


field  of  literature.  No  period  in  the  literary  history  of  the  world 
has  surpassed  the  later  years  of  Elizabeth’s  reign  in  the  richness, 
fullness,  variety,  and  extent  of  its  poetry,  prose,  and  especially  the 

drama.  Spenser,  Marlowe, 
Johnson,  Lyly,  Bacon, 
Hooker,  with  many  others, 
and,  surpassing  all,  Shake¬ 
speare  give  to  her  time  a 
literary  glory  which  no 
subsequent  reign  has 
equaled. 

Other  changes  were  tak¬ 
ing  place.  Nearly  all  of 
Elizabeth’s  old  counselors 
had  died,  though  Burghley 
lingered  on  almost  to  the 
close,  faithful  to  his  mis¬ 
tress  to  the  very  last. 
Younger  men  now  came 
to  the  front.  The  most 
notable  of  these  were  the 
Earl  of  Essex,  already 
spoken  of.  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh,  and  Sir  Robert 
Cecil,  son  of  Lord 
Burghley.  Essex  and  Raleigh  with  most  of  their  companions  were 
eager  to  make  themselves  and  England  famous,  and  would  willingly 
have  entered  into  all  kinds  of'  adventures  and  daring  schemes. 
Cecil,  trained  by  his  father,  continued  the  same  line  of  cautious 
policy,  and,  when  time  for  a  decision  came,  Elizabeth  generally 
took  Cecil’s  side. 

More-  than  any  other  man,  Raleigh  can  be  taken  as  typical  of 
the  age.  He  had  a  broad  mind  ready  to  accept  new  develop¬ 
ments  in  any  field ;  he  was  a  great  sea  captain ;  he  was  a  good 


Sir  Walter  Raleigh  and  his  Son 
After  a  contemporary  portrait 


ELIZABETH  AND  PARLIAMENT 


281 


soldier,  a  statesman  almost  of  the  first  rank,  an  historian,  one  of 
the  best  prose  writers  of  the  day,  and  a  fair  poet.  He  was  an  ac¬ 
complished  courtier,  a  skilled  diplomatist,  a  far-seeing  colonizer. 
He  was  daring,  courageous,  ambitious,  and,  on  occasion,  almost  as 
pitiless  as  Elizabeth  herself. 

331.  Parliament  under  Elizabeth;  Monopolies.  —  Like  her 
father,  Elizabeth  fully  appreciated  the  advantages  of  appearing  to 
rule  with  the  support  of  Parliament,  and  in  the  early  days  of  her 
reign  she  had  comparatively  little  trouble  ;  but  Parliament  annoyed 
her  with  repeated  petitions  for  her  marriage,  and,  furthermore,  its 
membership  was  more  strongly  Protestant  than  she  liked.  Its  in¬ 
fluence  had  been  steadily  growing,  and  as  time  went  on  it  was 
harder  and  harder  to  manage.  She,  therefore,  tried  to  do  without 
Parliaments,  only  calling  them  when  she  needed  money.  In  her 
long  reign  of  forty-five  years  there  were  only  thirteen  Parliaments. 

Elizabeth  was  niggardly  to  her  supporters,  and  when  she  was 
compelled  to  reward  them,  she  did  it  so  as  to  cost  her  as  little  as 
possible.  One  way  was  to  give  to  an  individual  the  control  over 
certain  articles  of  trade  or  commerce,  such  as  wine,  salt,  etc. 
These  monopolies  were  usually  granted  for  fixed  periods  and 
might  be  renewed  or  not.  As  early  as  1597  strong  objection  to 
this  practice  was  made  in  Parliament.  In  1601  such  a  decided 
protest  was  made  that  Elizabeth,  seeing  that  she  must  yield,  did 
so  gracefully.  The  message  which  was  sent  to  Parliament  closed 
with  these  words,  “Though  you  have  had,  and  may  have,  many 
princes  more  mighty  and  wise  sitting  in  this  seat,  yet  you  never 
had,  or  ever  shall  have,  any  that  will  be  more  careful  and  loving.”  '■ 

332.  Death  of  Elizabeth,  1603;  Her  Success.  —  During  the 
last  two  or  three  years  of  her  reign  Elizabeth  was  a  lonely  old 
woman,  but  she  never  lost  her  courage  or  her  activity.  In  the 
latter  part  of  1602  her  health  began  to  fail,  and  on  March  24, 
1603,  she  died  in  the  seventieth  year  of  her  age  and  the  forty-fifth 
of  her  reign. 

1  Notwithstanding  this,  monopolies  continued  until  the  time  of  the  Civil  War. 


282 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


Whatever  were  Elizabeth’s  faults,  and  they  were  many,  she  had 
an  instinctive  knowledge  of  what  was  best  for  England,  and  for 
England  she  lived.  To  appreciate  how  great  her  success  was,  it 
is  only  needful  to  compare  the  England  of  1558  with  the  England 
of  1603.  With  her  closes  the  Tudor  dynasty,  perhaps  the  ablest 
that  has  governed  England.  The  rule  of  the  Tudors  was  practi¬ 
cally  an  absolute  one,  but  they  had  such  a  clear  sense  of  the  real 
feelings  of  the  people  that  they  rarely  came  into  conflict  with 
them.  In  fact,  England’s  experience  of  the  evils  of  a  factious 
nobility  had  been  bitter  enough  to  make  her  ready  for  a  strong 
government,  even  though  it  was  despotic.  The  old  sentiment  of 
independence  was,  however,  not  lost ;  it  simply  slumbered,  ready 
at  a  touch  to  wake  into  life. 

333.  Characteristics  of  the  Reign. — With  the  possible  excep¬ 
tion  of  the  reign  of  Victoria,  no  other  period  in  English  history 
has  shown  so  great  changes  as  the  Tudor  period ;  for  there  was 
scarcely  a  field  of  human  interest  which  was  not  revolutionized. 
Perhaps  the  only  great  exception  was  the  condition  of  the  ex¬ 
tremely  poor,  which  continued  very  unsatisfactory,  though  serious 
yet  mistaken  efforts  to  better  it  were  made  by  the  enactment  of 
Poor  Laws. 

Taken  as  a  whole,  England  was  more  prosperous  at  the  close 
of  Elizabeth’s  reign  than  ever  before.  The  long  years  of  peace 
had  given  trade,  commerce,  and  agriculture  the  opportunity  for 
development.  One  result  of  this  was  to  raise  the  standard  of 
living  among  all  classes.  In  the  country,  stone  houses  took  the 
place  of  wooden  ones,  glass  was  used  for  windows,  chimneys  re¬ 
placed  holes  in  the  roof,  pillows  and  bolsters  supplanted  hard 
round  logs,  and  pewter  plates  and  spoons  those  made  of  wood. 

Among  the  upper  classes  the  changes  were  still  more  marked. 
Dress  became  rich  and  showy.  Men  and  women  alike  wore  silks, 
gold  and  silver  cloth,  velvets  and  damasks,  as  well  as  jewels  and 
ornaments  such  as  bracelets,  earrings,  brooches,  and  rings.  Ruffs 
made  of  lawn  cambric,  which  are  so  characteristic  a  feature  of  the 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  ELIZABETH’S  REIGN  283 


Elizabethan  portraits,  were  worn  by  both  sexes.  The  extent  and 
richness  of  some  of  the  wardrobes  can  hardly  be  believed.  Eliza¬ 
beth  is  said  to  have  left  three  thousand  gowns. 

334.  Architecture ;  Furniture ;  Amusements.  —  The  feeling  of 
security  led  to  great  changes  in  the  architecture  of  the  period. 
Thick  walls  and  narrow  windows  were  no  longer  essential,  and  so 


Charlcote  Hall 

All  English  manor  house  of  the  time  of  Queen  Elizabeth 


the  old  castles  were  often  modified,  large  windows  and  doorways 
were  cut  in  the  walls,  moats  were  filled  up  and  fortifications  were 
demolished.  Clothic  architecture  died  out  and  a  mixture  of 
Gothic  and  Italian  took  its  place,  the  best  examples  of  which  are 
to  be  found  in  the  stately  manor  houses,  which  have  come  down 
to  our  own  time.  Around  these  handsome  and  extensive  gardens 
were  laid  out.  In  the  houses  windows  were  as  conspicuous  as 
their  absence  had  been  in  earlier  times.  The  walls  were  hung 
with  rich  tapestries,  the  ceilings  decorated  with  paintings,  and  the 
rooms  adorned  with  handsome  furniture.  Among  household  and 
other  articles  which  were  introduced  or  came  into  general  use 
were  handkerchiefs,  steel  needles,  mirrors,  silk  stockings,  cambric, 
starch,  sealing  wax,  potatoes  (1563),  newspapers  (1588),  and  some¬ 
what  later  (1610)  forks.  The  floors  were  still  strewn  with  rushes. 

One  of  the  marked  characteristics  of  the  Elizabethan  period 
was  the  great  attention  given  to  amusements  of  various  kinds. 


2S4 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


Neither  time  nor  money  was  spared  to  make  them  attractive. 
Fairs,  festivals,  pageants,  masques,  dances,  etc.,  were  all  entered 
into  with  zest.  Elizabeth  herself  set  the  example  in  her  Royal 
Progresses,  as  they  were  called.  These  were  visits  made  by  her  to 
her  nobles  or  to  the  cities  and  universities.  At  such  times,  the 
shows  and  the  extravagant  expenditure  were  almost  beyond  belief. 

335.  The  Drama  ;  Literature.  —  In  nothing  did  the  spirit  of  the 
age  show  itself  more  than  in  the  drama.  Plays,  masques,  allegor¬ 
ical  dramas,  and  tableaux  were  acted  on  all  occasions.  No  other 
period  in  literary  history  produced  so  many  plays.  Thousands 
were  written  and  acted,  and  then  fell  into  obscurity.  Only  the 
best  survived.  The  reign  of  Elizabeth  saw  almost  the  beginning 
of  English  drama,  and  in  Shakespeare  saw  its  highest  develop¬ 
ment.*  The  characteristics,  the  feelings,  the  aspirations,  the  fail¬ 
ings,  the  energy,  tlie  boldness,  the  life,  and  the  extrav'agancies  of 
the  age  can  be  learned  better  from  the  Elizabethan  plays  than 
elsewhere,  and  best  of  all  in  those  of  Shakespeare. 

But  it  is  not  only  for  the  drama  that  the  reign  is  distinguished 
in  literature.  The  works  of  Edmund  Spenser,  the  first  great  poet 
since  Chaucer,  of  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  George 
Gascoigne,  Francis  Bacon,  and  others,  the  lyrics  of  the  dramatists, 
and  fugitive  pieces,  and  the  translations  from  the  classics  formed 
a  wealth  of  literature  hitlierto  unknown  in  English  annals. 

336.  Education.  —  When  the  monasteries  were  destroyed  many 
schools  went  with  them,  but  probably  most  of  them  were  not  a 
very  great  loss.  However  that  may  be,  there  were  established  in 
England  between  1509  and  1553  over  one  hundred  schools,  some 
at  the  public  expense,  and  not  a  few  by  private  endowment.  The 
education  was  scanty  and  crude.  The  school  work  began  at  6  a.m. 
and  lasted  till  ii ;  then  went  on  again  from  i  to  5.  There  were 

1  “  Ralph  Roister  Bolster, "  first  published  about  1556,  though  written  earlier,  is 
generally  held  to  be  the  first  English  comedy  ;  "  Gammer  Gurton’s  Needle"  (1553), 
the  second.  “  Gorboduc,"  sometimes  called  "  Ferrex  and  Porrex,"  a  tragedy,  was 
acted  in  1561.  With  Marlowe’s  “  Tamburlair.e,"  1587,  the  age  of  the  great  drama 
began. 


VOYAGES  OF  DISCOVERY 


285 


no  holidays  except  a  few  days  at  Christmas,  Easter,  and  Whitsun¬ 
tide.  The  children  of  the  nobility  and  of  the  upper  classes  had 
private  tutors.  Life  at  the  universities  was  much  as  it  had  been, 
and  conditions  were  only  slightly  better  than  at  the  schools.  At 
the  same  time  education  was  more  widely  diffused.  Every  gentle- 


Interior  of  the  Grammar  School  at  Stratford-on-Avon 


man  was  expected  to  be  educated,  and  among  the  upper  classes 
women  not  infrequently  were  as  highly  cultured  as  the  men.  Tlie 
letters  of  the  Paston  family  (1422-1509),  which  have  been  pre¬ 
served,  show  remarkable  culture  among  the  members  of  that 
family,  and  it  can  hardly  be  tlie  only  instance. 

337.  Voyages  of  Discovery  and  Settlement. — The  voyages  of 
Drake  and  others  have  already  been  mentioned  (§319),  but 
these  were  not  all ;  expeditions  of  almost  equal  importance  were 
undertaken,  and  besides  these,  schemes  for  definite  colonization 
were  set  on  foot.  One  of  the  first  was  the  patent  granted  to  Sir 
Humphrey  Gilbert  in  1578,  but  this  amounted  to  nothing.  In 
1583,  however.  Sir  Humphrey  himself  sailed  for  the  New  World, 
having  a  fleet  of  five  ships  carrying  two  hundred  and  sixty  men. 
They  reached  Newfoundland  and  Cape  Breton,  but  the  storms 


286 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


were  so  severe  that  the  attempt  at  colonization  was  given  up. 
On  the  return  voyage  the  brave  commander  went  down  with  all 
his  crew,  and  of  the  five  vessels  only  one  reached  England.  This* 
failure  did  not  deter  others,  notably  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  (§  330), 
who  by  his  various  efforts  to  colonize  Virginia  (1584-1587)  was 
the  real  founder  of  English  settlement  in  America,  although  he 
never  saw  the  region  in  which  he  felt  so  great  an  interest. 

338.  Commercial  Spirit ;  Development  of  the  Middle  Class.  — 
One  great  result  of  the  policy  of  Elizabeth’s  reign,  that  of  peace 
and  economy,  honest  money  and  rewards  of  merit,  was  the  won¬ 
derful  growth  of  the  commercial  spirit.  The  English  merchants 
were  quick  to  take  advantage  of  the  new  fields  opened  to  them, 
and  men  of  all  classes  took  part  in  business  and  other  enterprises, 
and  the  wealth  of  the  nation  was  vastly  increased. 

A  result  of  the  increased  wealth  was  the  growth  in  power  and 
influence  of  what  had  now  become  an  important  factor  in  English 
life  —  a  great  middle  class.  It  was  the  representatives  of  this  class 
who  were  now  taking  the  lead  in  English  political  life,  and  in  the 
House  of  Commons  they  were  in  the  majority.  Under  Elizabeth 
they  began  to  be  restive,  as  has  been  shown  by  their  objection  to 
monopolies,  but  they  were  too  proud  of  Elizabeth  and  too  loyal  to 
the  queen  who  had  done  so  much  for  England,  to  do  more  than 
grumble  and  petition.  It  was  evident,  however,  that  her  successor 
would  need  skill,  ability,  and  tact  to  live  harmoniously  with  his 
Parliaments. 

References.  —  Gtten,  Short  History,  chap,  vii  (§§  3-8);  Gardiner,  N/«- 
denfs  History,  chaps,  xxviii-xxx  ;  Terry,  History,  Part  III,  Book  II,  chaps, 
vi-vii  ;  Tout,  Advanced  History,  Book  V,  chaps,  vi-vii  ;  Creighton,  Age  of 
Elizabeth,  Book  I,  chap,  v.  Book  II,  chaps,  i-ii,  Book  III,  chaps,  iii-iv.  Books 
IV^-VII;  Adams  and  Stephens,  Select  Documents,  §§  167-180;  Traill,  Social 
England,  vol.  Ill,  chaps,  xi-xii;  Cheyney,  Readings,  chap  xiii;  Colby,  Selec¬ 
tions,  §§  61-67;  Kendall,  Source-Book,  §§  52-60,  68;  Lee,  Source-Book, 

§§  133-147- 


THE  STUARTS 


287 


The  Stuarts 


James  I 
(VI  of  Scotland) 
1603-1625 

=  Anne  of  Denmark 


Henry  Charles  I  Elizabeth 

d.  1612  1625-1649  =  Frederick,  Elector  Palatine 

=  Henrietta  Maria  of  France  I 


Charles  II 
1660-1685 
=  Catherine 
of  Braganza 


Mary  JAMES 


I  Prince  Sophia  1 

II  Henry  Henrietta  Maria  Rupert  =  Ernest 


1685-1688  d.  1660  =  Philip 

=  (i)  Anne  D.ofOrleans 

Hyde  | 

d.  1671  Descendants 

(2)  Mary  of  Modena  (in  direct 
I  Stuart  line) 


=  William  of  Orange 

I 

William  HI 
1688-1702 
=  Mary  II 
d.  lames  II 
1688-1694 


I 

(1)  Mary  H 
1688-1694 


(1)  Anne 
1702-1714 
=  George  of 
Denmark 


Augustus 
of  Hanover 
(or  Brunswick) 

George  I 
of  England 
1714-1727 


I 

(2)  James 

“  The  Old  Pretender  " 
=  Mary  Sobieski 


Charles  Edward 
‘The  Young  Pretender” 
d.  1788 


Henry 

Cardinal  Stuart 
d.  1807 


1  Elizabeth  had  several  children,  but  Sophia  was  the  oldest  Protestant  child. 


CHAPTER  XIX 


STRUGGLE  AGAINST  PERSONAL  RULE 

339.  James  I.  1603. — James  I  of  England  (VI  pf  Scot¬ 
land)  was  the  son  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  ^  and  Henry 
Stuart,  Lord  Darnley  (§§  306,  307)  ;  both  were  grandchil¬ 
dren  of  Margaret,  daughter  of  Henry  VH,  and  by  the  usual 
laws  of  inheritance  James  was  the  legitimate  successor  of  Eliza¬ 
beth.^  The  birth  and  bringing  up  of  James  had  been  unfortunate. 
Except  for  a  few  months  in  Denmark  he  had  never  been  out  of 
Scotland,  and  was  therefore  not  only  unacquainted  with  foreign  life 
and  thought,  but  also  with  the  conditions  and  customs  in  the 
country  over  which  he  was  to  reign.  Elizabeth  understood  both 
England  and  the  English ;  James  understood  neither.  The  time 
for  despotic  rule  in  England  had  ended,  and  the  period  of  transi¬ 
tion  to  a  constitutional  government  would  have  been  full  of  diffi¬ 
culties  even  to  the  most  tactful  monarch,  so  the  failure  of  James 
and  his  immediate  successors  is  not  surprising. 

James  had  been  well  educated,  and  was  possessed  of  considerable 
intellectual  ability.  He  was  by  nature  kindly  in  disposition,  and 
desirous  of  avoiding  extremes  in  anything.  At  the  same  time  he 
could  be  stubborn  in  holding  to  an  opinion  or  a  policy.  He  was 

1  The  attitude  of  James  toward  his  mother  has  often  been  called  in  question.  It 
should  be  remembered  that  he  never  saw  her  after  he  was  a  year  old,  and  that  he 
was  brought  up  among  those  to  whom  she  was  the  incarnation  of  all  that  was  evil. 
These  facts  are  a  palliation,  though  not  a  defense,  of  his  conduct  toward  her.  He 
did,  however,  destroy  Fotheringay  Castle,  and  he  raised  a  handsome  monument  to 
her  in  Henry  VII  Chapel,  Westminister  Abbey. 

2  His  succession  was  based  on  this  right,  for  Parliament  simply  recognized  him. 
It  is  true  that  he  had  been  designated  by  Elizabeth  on  her  deathbed  as  her  suc¬ 
cessor,  but  tinratified  by  Parliament,  apart  from  the  claim  by  birth,  this  had  no  value. 
According  to  the  will  of  Henry  VIH,  under  which  Elizabeth  herself  succeeded,  the 
legal  heir  was  a  descendant  of  Mary  Brandon,  Henry’s  younger  sister. 

288 


JAMES  I 


289 


vain  of  his  acquirements  and  had  an  exaggerated  estimate  of  his 
ability.  Not  the  least  of  his  defects  was  a  total  lack  of  power  to 
read  character,  nor  was  he  better  able  to  judge  of  the  currents  of 
public  opinion  or  the  signs  of  the  times.  He  was  lazy,  dilatory, 
and  careless,  fond  of  theory,  but  hated  practice.  In  person  he  was 
tall  and  ungainly,  shambling 
in  his  walk,  slovenly  in  his 
dress  and  habits,  and  a  great 
drinker,  though  by  no  means 
a  drunkard. 

340.  James  comes  to  Lon¬ 
don.  1603.  —  Sir  Robert 
Carey,'  a  cousin  of  Elizabeth, 
by  three  days’  hard  riding,  it 
is  said,  carried  tidings  of  the 
queen’s  death  to  James  at 
Holyrood  Palace,  Edinburgh. 

Three  days  later  James  was 
proclaimed  King  of  England, 

Scotland,  and  Ireland,  just  a  century  after  the  marriage  of  James 
IV  of  Scotland  to  Margaret,  the  daughter  of  Henry  VH,  whose 
policy  thus  bore  fruit  after  many  years. 

James  set  out  almost  at  once  for  London.  His  journey  thither 
occupied  a  month,  and  along  the  whole  route  he  was  received  with 
enthusiasm.  With  his  queen,  Anne,  Princess  of  Denmark,  he  was 
crowned  at  Westminster  (July  25,  1603).  James  decided  to  fol¬ 
low  the  policy  of  Elizabeth,  and  continued  her  ministers  in  office, 
making  Sir  Robert  Cecil  his  chief  adviser.  This  course,  the  best 
that  he  could  have  taken,  was  not  acceptable  either  to  the  Puri-, 
tans  or  the  Catholics. 

341.  Millenary  Petition;  Hampton  Court  Conference,  1604; 
Bible  of  1611.  —  On  his  way  to  London  James  was  presented  by 
the  Puritans  with  a  petition,  known  as  the  Millenary  Petition  be- 

1  He  was  a  grandson  of  Mary,  sister  of  Anne  Boleyn. 


James  I 


290 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


cause  it  was  reported  to  have  been  signed  by  one  thousand 
clergymen^  In  this  some  modification  of  the  use  of  religious 
ceremonies  and  clerical  vestments  was  asked  for.  The  requests 
were  moderate,  but  it  soon  became  evident  that  James  had  no 
notion  of  allowing  any  alteration  in  church  services  or  organiza¬ 
tion.  However,  a  conference  between  the  English  bishops  and 
four  leading  Puritan  clergymen  was  held  at  Hampton  Court 
Palace,  and  hence  known  as  the  Hampton  Court  Conference 
(1604).  James  himself  took  a  prominent  part  in  this  meeting, 
the  only  important  result  of  which  was  an  arrangement  for  a  new 
version  of  the  Bible,  which  appeared  in  16 ii,  and  which,  on 
account  of  its  excellence,  displaced  all  previous  English  transla¬ 
tions.  Known  as  the  “Authorized  Version,”  it  remains  to  this 
day  a  model  of  literary  English. 

At  this  conference  James  took  the  position  of  a  firm  supporter 
of  episcopacy,  stating  as  his  motto  the  adage,  “  No  bishop,  no 
king,”  while  as  his  guiding  principle  he  proclaimed  the  divine 
right  of  kings.^ 

342.  Plots  against  James;  Raleigh.  1603.  —  Two  conspira¬ 
cies  against  James  were  very  soon  set  on  foot ;  the  one  known  as 
the  Main  Plot,  and  the  other  as  the  Bye  Plot.  The  chief  interest 
in  these  plots  is  the  fact  that  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  was  accused  of 
being  concerned  in  the  Main  Plot.  According  to  the  custom  of 
the  day,  he  was  required  to  prove  his  innocence,  to  answer  charges 
without  preparation,  and  was  forbidden  the  assistance  of  counsel. 
Raleigh  was  convicted,  but  was  reprieved  and  thrown  into  the 
Tower,  where  he  remained  thirteen  years. 

343.  James  and  Religion. — James  was  inclined  to  allow  the 
private  exercise  of  religion,  provided  Catholics  would  acknowledge 
that  loyalty  to  him  was  above  loyalty  to  the  Pope,  and  would  agree 
that  there  should  be  no  increase  in  their  numbers.  This  was  a 

1  In  reality  the  signers  numbered  about  800. 

2  It  is  to  James’s  discredit  that  ten  of  the  principal  signers  of  the  Millenary 
Petition  were  thrown  into  prison,  and  narrowly  escaped  the  charge  of  treason  for 
their  action. 


THE  GUNPOWDER  PLOT 


291 


demand  to  which  neither  the  Pope  nor  the  Catholic  party  could  be 
expected  to  agree.  However,  James  remitted  fines  for  non-attend¬ 
ance  at  church  services,  with  the  result  that  there  were  many  empty 
pews  in  the  parish  churches  and  great  gatherings  of  Catholics 
outside  them.  The  Protestants  took  it  for  granted  that  these 


worshipers  were  new  converts,  and  James  in  alarm  went  back  to 
the  policy  of  Cecil.  All  priests  were  ordered  to  leave  the  country, 
several  were  hanged,  and  the  fines  for  recusancy  were  rigidly 
enforced. 

344.  The  Gunpowder  Plot.  1605.  —  The  extremists  were 
so  irritated  at  what  had  happened  that  after  the  fashion  of 
the  day  they  turned  from  peaceful  means  to  conspiracy,  resulting 
in  the  “  Gunpowder  Plot.”  The  cold-blooded  plan  to  destroy 
innocent  and  unsuspecting  men  along  with  those  against  whom 
there  was  a  grudge  or  who  might  take  hostile  action  distin¬ 
guished  the  Gunpowder  Plot  from  all  others,  and  makes  its  anni¬ 
versary  still  remembered  in  England.  There  is  much  in  the  plot 
which  cannot  be  explained,  but  on  the  whole  it  would  seem  that 
tradition  is  not  far  wrong.  The  men  who  were  concerned  in  it 
were  not  ruffians,  but  gentlemen  by  birth.  In  substance  the  plan 
was  to  blow  up  with  gunpowder  the  king  and  Parliament  on  the  open¬ 
ing  day  of  the  session,  November  5,  1605.  For  this  purpose  there 
were  stored  in  a  cellar  under  the  House  of  Lords  thirty-six  barrels 
of  gunpowder.  Everything  was  ready,  when  one  of  the  conspir- 


292 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


ators  sent  to  his  brother-in-law,  a  member  of  the  House  of  Lords, 
a  letter  of  warning.  Tlirough  this  the  government  discovered  the 
plot  and  apprehended  Guy  Fawkes,  the  man  who  had  charge  of 
the  powder.  The  other  conspirators  fled  into  the  country,  there 
to  attempt  to  raise  a  rebellion.  The  leader  and  a  few  friends  were 
surrounded  in  a  house  in  Staffordshire,  and  killed.  Fawkes,  after 
being  tortured  to  obtain  evidence,  was,  with  several  companions, 
executed.  Among  others  Garnet,  the  head  of  the  English  Jesuits, 
was  put  to  death.  His  trial  failed  to  show  any  complicity  on  his 
part,  but  only  a  knowledge  that  a  plot  existed  of  which  he  did  not 
give  notice  to  the  government.^  As  a  result  of  the  plot  severe  laws 
against  the  Catholics  were  passed  and  carried  out  relentlessly,  and 
the  cause  of  religious  toleration  was  indefinitely  retarded. 

345.  James’s  First  Parliament,  1604-1611  ;  Foreign  Policy. — 
The  extravagance  of  James  soon  forced  him  to  summon  a  Par¬ 
liament.  This  sat  from  1604  until  1611,  and  was  continually  out 
of  harmony  with  the  king.  James  lectured  the  members,  dwelling 
on  his  favorite  doctrine  of  the  divine  right  of  kings,  while  Parlia¬ 
ment  insisted  on  its  privileges  and  the  right  to  withhold  supplies 
until  grievances  were  redressed.  James  sought  to  replenish  his 
treasury  by  laying  customs  duties,  selling  titles  of  nobility,  im¬ 
posing  excessive  fines,  granting  monopolies,  etc. ;  but  so  far  as 
Parliament  was  concerned  he  obtained  very  little  money. 

Early  in  his  reign  peace  was  made  with  Spain  and  he  sought  an 
alliance  with  her,  though  at  the  same  time  he  was  friendly  with 
France.  In  foreign  affairs  James’s  policy  in  the  main  was  wise 
because  he  wished  for  peace,  which  was  the  best  thing  for 
England,  but  he  was  unable  to  carry  out  his  policy  in  a  states¬ 
manlike  manner. 

346.  Scotland  and  Ireland.  —  One  thing  upon  which  James 
had  set  his  heart  was  the  union  of  England  and  Scotland,  for, 
though  he  was  king  of  both  countries,  each  was  governed  by  its 
own  laws  and  its  own  Parliament.  He  had,  without  authority,  as- 


1  Technically  this  is  called  Misprision  of  Treason. 


COLONIZATION  AND  COMMERCE 


293 


sumed  the  title  of  King  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  but  Parlia¬ 
ment  refused  to  take  any  steps  looking  toward  a  uniond 

The  conquest  of  Ireland  was  almost  coincident  with  the  death  of 
Elizabeth  ;  therefore  James  was  really  the  first  king  of  England, 
Scotland,  and  Ireland.  Ireland,  though  subdued  and  helpless, 
was  by  no  means  friendly.  Hoping  to  improve  matters,  James 
granted  to  colonists  from  England  and  Scotland  large  tracts  of 
land  in  the  nortli  of  Ireland,  declared  to  be  forfeited  to  the  crown 
on  account  of  a  small  rebellion  in  1607.  Thus  were  formed  the 
Protestant  districts  of  Ulster.  At  the  time  (1611)  this  was  the 
wildest  part  of  Ireland ;  in  after  years  it  became  the  most  in¬ 
dustrious  and  wealthy.  This  colonizing  scheme^  had  both  good 
and  evil  effects ;  on  the  one  hand  it  strengthened  the  English  rule, 
while  on  the  other  it  gave  rise  to  much  hard  feeling,  so  that  a 
bitter  enmity  arose  between  the  Protestants  and  Catholics  of 
those  districts,  an  enmity  which  exists  to  this  day. 

347.  Colonization  ;  Commerce.  —  Meanwhile  the  spirit  of  coloni¬ 
zation  was  active.  In  1607  Jamestown  in  Virginia  was  founded, 
and  earlier  a  colony  in  the  small  West  India  island  of  Barbados. 
These  were  followed  by  Plymouth,  Massachusetts,  settled  in  1620 
by  the  Pilgrims  ;  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  1629  ;  Maryland,  in  1634  ; 
and  others  established  at  various  dates  till  the  settlement  of 
Georgia,  in  1733. 

With  the  development  of  colonization  there  was  the  increase  of 
trade  and  commerce.  In  1600  Elizabeth  had  given  a  charter  to  a 
commercial  company  known  as  the  East  India  Company,  organized 
for  securing  the  trade  of  the  far  East.  In  India  trading  stations, 
or  factories  as  they  were  called,  were  established,  and  thus  began 

'  There  can  be  little  question  that  the  Commons  were  right  in  their  position.  To 
have  united  the  two  kingdoms  would  at  that  time  almost  inevitably  have  strength¬ 
ened  the  royal  power  in  both  England  and  Scotland,  which  would  have  been  a 
calamity.  That  which  the  Commons  refused  to  do  in  1607  they  did  gladly  in  1707. 

2  In  order  to  raise  funds  for  this  undertaking  James  founded  a  new  order  of 
hereditary  knighthood,  and  sold  what  were  known  as  baronetcies.  The  price  for 
each  title  was  ,^1800.  The  shields  of  baronets  still  bear  a  red  hand,  known  as  the 
red  hand  of  Ulster. 


294 


HISTORY  OP'  ENGLAND 


England’s  interest  in  India.  Stations  were  established  in  Africa 
also,  and  everywhere  England  was  beginning  to  contend  with 
the  Dutch  for  the  supremacy  in  commerce.  English  ships  now 
traded  with  almost  all  the  ports  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  with 
Spain,  Portugal,  France,  Hamburg,  and  the  Baltic  ports.  A  large 
business  was  done  in  the  fisheries  off  Newfoundland  and  in  the 
whale  fisheries  of  the  North  Atlantic. 

348.  Raleigh’s  Venture,  1617;  His  Execution.  1618. — 
James  was  ready  to  listen  to  any  scheme  for  making  money,  of 
which  he  stood  in  so  great  need,  and  when  Sir  Walter  Raleigh, 
who  had  been  thirteen  years  in  the  Tower  (§  342),  offered,  if  re¬ 
leased,  to  head  an  expedition  to  Guiana  in  search  of  some  gold 
mines  of  which  he  had  heard  in  his  visit  to  that  country  many 
years  before,  the  king  willingly  acceded  to  the  proposition. 

Sir  Walter  started  in  1617.  He  agreed  not  to  take  any  warlike 
measures  against  the  Spaniards,  with  whom  James  was  now  at 
peace,  a  promise  which  it  was  impossible  to  keep,  for  the  alleged 
mines  were  in  territory  claimed  by  Spain,  any  intrusion  into  which 
she  would  certainly  resent.  After  many  difficulties  the  small  fleet 
reached  the  mouth  of  the  Orinoco,  and  Raleigh  waited  there 
while  some  of  his  vessels  went  up  the  river.  They  found  a 
Spanish  settlement  and,  in  a  skirmish  which  ensued,  were 
defeated.  Raleigh  was  compelled  to  go  back  to  England. 
Meantime  the  Spaniards  demanded  that  he  should  be  punished  as 
a  pirate.  James,  fearful  of  a  break  with  Spain,  finally  caused 
Raleigh  to  be  executed  under  the  old  unjust  sentence  of  treason. 
The  common  view  at  the  time  was  that  he  was  executed  simply  to 
please  Spain,  and  modern  investigation  has  only  confirmed  it. 

349.  Favorites.  —  Sir  Robert  Cecil,  who  had  been  created 
Earl  of  Salisbury,  died  in  1612,  and  James  determined  to  rule 
without  a  chief  minister  of  state.  Unfortunately  he  could  not  get 
along  without  some  kind  of  adviser,  and  so  came  under  the  in¬ 
fluence  of  favorites,  men  who  were  interested  simply  in  their  own 
advancement  and  concerns.  The  first  of  these  was  Robert  Carr, 


THE  SPANISH  SCHEME 


295 


a  Scotsman,  who  was  made  Viscount  Rochester,  and  later  Earl 
of  Somerset.  After  several  years  he  fell  into  disgrace,  and  a  new 
favorite  was  found  in  George  Villiers,  afterwards  Earl,  and  later, 
Duke  of  Buckingham.  It  was  soon  recognized  that  no  plan  or 
policy  had  a  chance  of  success  unless  it 
was  approved  by  him,  and  so  he  became 
the  real  ruler  of  the  land. 

350.  Prince  Charles  and  the  Spanish 
Scheme.  1616. — The  year  which  saw 

the  death  of  Cecil  (1612)  saw  also  that 
of  Prince  Henry,  James’s  eldest  son,  who 
was  about  nineteen.  He  was  a  youth  of 
the  greatest  promise,  and  there  have 
always  been  suspicions  that  his  death  was 
not  wholly  the  result,  as  claimed,  of  cold 
and  fever.  The  removal  of  Prince 
Henry  and  Cecil  deprived  James  of  the  only  men  who  might 
have  restrained  him  from  his  foolish  course.  The  heir  to  the 
throne  was  now  Charles,  the  second  son.  James,  full  of  the  de¬ 
sire  for  peace  and  an  alliance  with  Spain,  and  supported  by 
Buckingham,  determined  to  marry  Charles  to  the  Spanish  Infanta 
Maria,  granddaughter  of  Philip  H  and  sister  of  the  ruling  king  of 
Spain.  Instinctively  the  English  people  felt  that,  if  carried  out, 
such  a  policy  would  make  England  the  practical  supporter  of 
Spain.  This  belief  united  men  who  would  not  otherwise  have 
acted  together  —  those  who  feared  for  their  estates,  those  who 
feared  for  their  religion,  and  those  who  feared  for  their  country. 

James  now  began  to  show  toleration  toward  the  Catholics,  and 
for  the  first  time  in  many  years  Catholics  had  an  easy  time, 
provided  they  were  content  to  remain  quiet.  This  course  was 
unpopular,  for  the  people  at  large  regarded  favor  to  Catholics  as 
favor  to  Spain.  Spain  was  willing  enough  to  carry  on  negotiations 
with  James,  for,  as  long  as  they  continued,  there  was  not  much 
likelihood  of  England’s  interference  with  Spanish  designs. 


Coat  of  Arms  of  the 
Stuart  Kings 


296 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


351.  Thirty  Years’  War.  1618-1648.  —  In  1618  the  Thirty 
Years’  War,  one  of  the  most  desolating  wars  in  history,  broke  out 
on  the  Continent.  The  immediate  occasion  for  the  outbreak 
was  a  struggle  for  the  crown  of  Bohemia  between  Frederick, 
Elector- Palatine  of  the  Rhine,  and  Ferdinand  of  Austria ;  but 
it  really  was  a  struggle  between  Catholicism  and  Protestantism. 
Frederick  had  married  Elizabeth,'  (1613),  James’s  only  daughter, 
and,  as  the  representative  of  Protestantism,  w^is  strongly  supported 
by  English  opinion  ;  but  when  he  begged  James  for  help  his  ap¬ 
peal  was  refused,  though  volunteers  were  allowed  to  join  his  forces. 
It  was  not  long  before  Frederick  lost  both  the  crown  of  Bohemia 
and  the  Palatinate.  (App.  i,  §§  143-152.) 

352.  Parliaments  of  1614  and  1621.  —  In  1614  James  called  his 
second  Parliament,  but  it  was  unwilling  to  do  anything  for  him  until 
he  abandoned  his  illegal  methods  of  taxation,  and  ceased  his  inter¬ 
ference  with  elections.  James  in  anger  dissolved  the  Parliament, 
which  in  consequence  of  not  having  passed  a  single  act  was  called 
the  “  Addled  Parliament.”  James  now  began  to  raise  money  by 
benevolences,  somewhat  as  Henry  VII  had  done,  but  he  was  soon 
forced  to  call  his  third  Parliament  (1621).  This  Parliament  re¬ 
fused  to  grant  supplies  until  grievances  had  been  redressed. 
First  it  dealt  with  monopolies  ;  these  were  hated  chiefly  as  an 
abuse  of  royal  power,  though  monopolies  of  such  necessaries  of 
life  as  salt,  oil,  etc.,  were  always  unpopular. 

353.  Impeachment  of  Bacon.  1621. — The  next  thing  that 
Parliament  took  up  was  the  conduct  of  government  officials,  and 
Francis  Bacon,  the  Lord  Chancellor,  was  chosen  as  an  example. 
He  was  a  friend  to  monopolies,  and  some  suitors  in  his  court 
claimed  that  he  had  received  bribes.  In  those  days  it  was  gener¬ 
ally  understood  that  presents  were  to  be  given  to  judges  and  others  ; 
indeed  it  was  a  recognized  method  of  payment  for  services  ren¬ 
dered.  Bacon  had  received  such  gifts  or  bribes  before  judgment 

1  After  the  death  of  Queen  Anne  (1714),  the  grandson  of  Elizabeth,  George  of 
Hanover,  came  to  the  throne  of  England  as  George  I. 


CONFLICT  WITH  PARLIAMENT 


297 


Gold  Coin  of  James  I 

This  coin,  commemorating  the  union  of  Eng¬ 
land  and  Scotland,  was  the  first  to  bear  the 
legend  "  Great  Britain.”  ^ 


was  pronounced,  and  while  the  case  was  still  pending,  thus  laying 
himself  open  to  grave  charges.  He  confessed  the  facts  and  was 
sentenced  to  pay  a  fine  of  _;^io,ooo,  to  be  imprisoned  in  the 
Tower  at  the  king’s  pleas¬ 
ure,  and  to  retire  from 
public  life.  He  was  even 
forbidden  to  come  within 
twelve  miles  of  tlie  court. 

James,  probably  more  be¬ 
cause  he  considered  Bacon’s 
impeachment  an  infringe¬ 
ment  on  his  royal  rights 
than  from  compassion,  re¬ 
mitted  the  fine  and  released  him  after  two  days’  imprisonment.^ 
The  essential  point  in  the  case,  as  in  the  prosecution  of  certain  of 
the  monopolies,  was  that  the  Commons  had  revived  the.  right  of 
impeachment  of  the  officers  of  the  crown,  a  weapon  which  could 
inflict  powerful  blows  (§  162,  note). 

354.  Conflict  with  Parliament.  1622. —  Having  disposed  of 
the  monopolies  and  of  Bacon,  the  Parliament  was  ready  to  grant 
James  some  small  supplies.  After  a  recess  it  came  together 
again,  and  at  this  time  the  negotiations  with  Spain  were  being 
carried  on.  The  Commons  immediately  sent  word  to  the  king, 
requesting  him  to  marry  his  son  to  a  Protestant  princess.  James 
replied  that  Parliament  had  no  right  to  discuss  matters  upon 
which  he  had  not  consulted  them,  and  that  they  should  not 
“  meddle  with  mysteries  of  state.”  Not  only  this,  but  he 
threatened  to  punish  members  for  their  words  in  the  House. 
This  roused  the  ire  of  the  Commons,  and  they  put  on  record  a 
notable  statement  of  their  right  to  free  speech  in  the  House,  and 
to  an  unhindered  discussion  of  all  matters  relating  to  the  realm. 


1  Bacon  claimed,  and,  so  far  as  records  show,  justly,  that  in  no  case  had  his  de¬ 
cisions  been  affected  by  bribes,  but  with  that  question  the  Commons  were  not 
concerned. 


2g8 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


James  was  so  angered  that  he  sent  for  the  Journal  containing  this 
declaration,  and  tore  out  the  leaf  with  his  own  hands.  In  a  few 
days  he  dissolved  the  Parliament,  and  threw  several  of  the 
prominent  members  into  prison. 

355.  The  Spanish  Scheme  Fails.  1623.  —  Meantime  the  ne¬ 
gotiations  in  regard  to  the  Spanish  marriage  dragged  on.  Buck¬ 
ingham  and  Prince  Charles  resolved  to  see  what  a  visit  to  Madrid 
would  do.  When  they  reached  that  city,  they  found  that  not  only 
all  sorts  of  difficulties  were  thrown  in  the  way,  but  that  the  In¬ 
fanta  herself  was  unalterably  opposed  to  a  marriage  with  any 
heretic.  After  numerous  disputes  and  adventures  they  gave  up 
the  matter  in  disgust  and  returned  to  England,  to  be  received 
with  enthusiasm,  not  because  either  Charles  or  Buckingham  was 
popular,  but  because  the  proposed  alliance  with  Spain  had  failed. 
Buckingham  now  turned  to  France  and  proposed  that  Charles 
should  marry  Henrietta  Maria,  the  sister  of  the  king,  Louis 
XIII. 

356.  Last  Days  of  James.  1624-1625.  —  The  last  Parlia¬ 
ment  which  James  called  (1624)  pronounced  monopolies  illegal 
and  canceled  all  grants  except  bona  fide  patents  which  were  to 
run  fourteen  years.  War  was  declared  against  Spain,  and  troops 
for  the  aid  of  Frederick  were  authorized  to  be  raised  in  England. 
Of  the  twelve  thousand  Englishmen  who  went  out  to  fight  the 
cause  of  Protestantism,  fully  three  fourths  perished  in  Holland 
from  cold  and  disease,  so  poorly  furnished  were  they  with  needful 
supplies.  (App.  I,  §  145.) 

In  Scotland  James’s  course  had  been  as  ill-advised  as  in  Eng¬ 
land.  Greatly  pleased  by  the  reception  which  he  had  received 
from  the  strong  churchmen  in  England,  he  had  resolved  to  intro¬ 
duce  episcopacy  into  Scotland.  Bishops  were  appointed,  and 
the  Presbyterian  system  was  modified,  though  not  without  opposi¬ 
tion.  A^  a  matter  of  fact  the  bishops  had  little  power. 

James  died  in  March,  1625,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son 
Charles  I. 


CHARLES  I 


299 


357.  Charles  I  Marries.  1625.  —  Charles  was  at  that  time 
twenty-four  years  old.  In  many  ways  he  was  a  better  man  than 
his  father,  and  he  was  unquestion¬ 
ably  desirous  of  ruling  well.  His 
private  life  was  exemplary  and  he 
was  free  from  many  of  the  vices 
common  in  his  day.  On  the  other 
hand  he  was  obstinate,  impulsive, 
unwise,  impatient  of  detail,  inclined 
to  double  dealing,  and  had,  like  his 
father,  an  overweening  sense  of  his 
divine  right  as  king.  He  was 
handsome  and  dignified,  devoted 
to  the  church,  and,  in  his  way, 
pious.  He  could  not  understand 
any  point  of  view  other  than  his 
own,  and  was  rarely  able  to  make 
up  his  mind  what  line  of  action  to 
pursue.  He  failed  to  understand 
his  people,  and  though  he  had  de¬ 
voted  friends  he  was  never  popular 
except  for  the  few  months  after  his 
return  from  Spain. 

A  treaty  with  France  had  been 
arranged  in  1624,  and  before  he  called  his  first  Parliament  the 
marriage  with  Henrietta  Maria  of  France  had  been  celebrated  by 
proxy  in  front  of  the  doors  of  the  great  church  of  Notre  Dame  in 
Paris  (June,  1625),  and  the  young  queen  of  sixteen  came  to  England. 

358.  Spanish  War;  First  Parliament.  1625. — When  the 
first  Parliament  of  Charles  met,  the  nation  was  already  at  war  with 
Spain,  and  he  naturally  expected  that  large  grants  of  money 
would  be  made ;  but  he  was  granted  only  two  comparatively  small 
amounts,  and  “tonnage  and  poundage”^  for  one  year,  though 

1  “  Tonnage  and  poundage  "  was  another  name  for  customs  duties. 


Charles  I 

After  a  painting  by  Vandyke 


300 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


it  had  been  usual  to  make  such  a  grant  for  the  lifetime  of  a  new 
king.  The  Commons  distrusted  Buckingham  and  his  influence 
upon  the  king,  and  the  power  to  grant  or  withhold  supplies  was  in 
those  days  the  only  weapon  which  they  could  use,  for  even  the 
right  of  impeachment  was  still  questioned.  Charles  wrathfully 
dismissed  the  Parliament,  and  he  and  Buckingham  managed  to 
send  off  an  expedition  to  Spain,  but  it  was  a  failure. 

359.  Charles’s  Second  Parliament,  1626;  Impeachment  of 
Buckingham.  —  Charles,  from  want  of  funds,  was  compelled  to  call 
another  Parliament  (1626),  but  this  second  body  was  no  more 
tractable  than  the  first.  Charles  had  tried  to  get  rid  of  the  leaders 
of  the  former  House  by  making  them  sheriffs  and  hence  ineligible 
for  election  to  Parliament.  But  it  was  of  no  avail,  for  new  chiefs 
appeared.  Under  the  leadership  of  Sir  John  Eliot,  a  Cornish 
gentleman,  the  Commons  impeached  Buckingham,  charging  him 
with  mismanaging  the  revenue,  with  buying  and  selling  offices,  and 
with  lending  ships  to  France.  These  charges  were  true,  but  a 
number  of  others  included  in  the  impeachment  were  clearly  unjust. 
The  vote  passed  the  Commons,  and  Sir  John  Eliot  and  Sir  Dudley 
Digges  were  chosen  to  present  the  charges  before  the  House  of 
Lords.  Charles,  under  the  pretext  that  they  had  used  seditious 
language,  threw  Eliot  and  Digges  into  prison.  Parliament  refused 
to  transact  any  business  until  their  release.  When  they  were  set  at 
liberty  the  prosecution  was  again  taken  up,  and  Charles,  to  save  Buck¬ 
ingham,  dissolved  Parliament,  without  getting  a  penny  of  supplies. 

360.  Forced  Loans.  —  In  order  to  obtain  funds  Charles  had 
recourse  to  forced  loans,  benevolences,  etc.  Many  of  those  who 
refused  to  pay  were  committed  to  prison,  among  them  Eliot ; 
others  had  soldiers  billeted  upon  them,  or  were  compelled  to  join 
the  army  or  navy.  In  1627  war  broke  out  with  France,^  and  to  pro¬ 
vide  for  it  a  forced  loan  was  attempted.  For  denying  that  this  was 
legal  the  Chief  Justice  was  dismissed  from  the  bench.  Five  gentle- 

1  This  war  was  occasioned  by  King  Charles  sending  the  P'rench  attendants  of 
the  queen  out  of  England. 


CHARLES  AND  PARLIAMENT 


301 


men  who  refused  to  pay  were  thrown  into  prison,  and  when  a  writ  of 
habeas  corpus^  was  issued  in  their  favor,  the  jailer  replied  that  the 
prisoners  were  kept  by  the  king’s  order  and  could  not  be  released. 
When  their  case  came  before  the  court,  the  judges  sent  the  prisoners 
back  to  jail,  thus  practically  acknowledging  that  the  king  had  the 
right  to  imprison  at  his  pleasure.  Charles,  however,  finding  that 
he  did  not  gain  anything  in  this  way  set  the  five  gentlemen  free. 

361.  Charles’s  Third  Parliament.  1628.  —  Finding  it  impossible 
to  get  along  without  supplies,  Charles  called  his  third  Parliament. 
Among  its  members  was  Sir  Thomas  Wentworth,  who,  with  Eliot, 
John  Pym,  and  Sir  Edward  Coke,  took  the  lead  in  the  great  struggle 
for  the  rights  of  the  individual  in  regard  to  person  and  property. 
This  matter  took  precedence  of  all  other  business.  At  first  the 
grievances  were  drawn  up  in  the  shape  of  a  bill,  but  the  king  re¬ 
fused  to  consider  it ;  then  the  Commons  drew  up  a  statement  in 
the  form  of  a  petition  enumerating  the  grievances  of  the  past  and 
providing  for  the  future.  Wentworth  withdrew  his  support  from  this. 
Charles  at  first  refused  to  have  anything  to  do  with  the  petition, 
but  finding  that  it  had  the  support  of  the  Lords  and  that  he  could 
not  get  anything  out  of  the  Parliament  unless  it  was  signed,  he  finally 
attached  his  signature  and  the  Petition  of  Right  became  law  (1628). 

362.  The  Petition  of  Right.  1628.  —  The  four  subjects  of  the 
Petition  were  :  martial  law,  billeting  of  soldiers,  arbitrary  taxa¬ 
tion,  and  arbitrary  imprisonment.  It  made  provision  that  martial 
law  should  not  be  employed  in  time  of  peace ;  that  the  soldiers 
should  not  be  quartered  upon  private  citizens  against  their  wish  ; 
that  all  such  methods  of  raising  money  as  a  forced  gift,  loan,  be¬ 
nevolence,  tax,  or  such  like  charge  without  consent  of  Parliament 
should  be  considered  illegal ;  and  that  no  one  should  be  imprisoned 
without  some  definite  charge.  As  soon  as  it  was  known  that  the 
king  had  signed  the  Petition  there  was  great  rejoicing  over  all  Eng- 

*  Habeas  corpus  —  the  writ  issued  by  a  judge  or  proper  officer  demanding  that 
the  prisoner  should  be  brought  before  liim  to  see  if  the  commitment  to  prison  was 
legal  or  justly  made. 


302 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


land,  and  Parliament  immediately  granted  Charles  five  subsidies 
(£350,000). 

The  Petition  of  Right  ^  has  always  been  considered  one  of  the 
great  constitutional  safeguards  of  English  liberty,  but  its  importance 
lies  in  the  fact  that  by  it  the  people  asserted  and  gained  the  right 
to  set  a  limit  to  the  arbitrary  power  of  the  king  and  his  govern¬ 
ment.  It  was  a  statement  of  principles,  but  it  made  no  provision 
for  carrying  them  out;  for  instance,  while  it  required  that  each  man 
should  have  a  trial,  there  was  nothing  to  prevent  that  trial  from 
being  an  unfair  one,  or  from  being  held  before  judges  wholly  in 
the  king’s  interest.  No  surety  was  given  for  the  appointment  of 
impartial  judges,  and  they  continued,  therefore,  to  be  appointed  and 
removed  at  the  king’s  pleasure.  Again,  the  language  was  vague, 
so  that  within  a  week  a  serious  question  arose  between  the  king 
and  Parliament  as  to  its  meaning.  But  with  all  these  shortcomings 
it  marks  a  definite  stage  in  the  struggle  for  constitutional  liberty. 

The  Commons  next  took  up  the  question  of  tonnage  and  pound¬ 
age,  which  they  held  to  be  a  tax,  though  the  king  claimed  that 
these  duties  did  not  come  under  the  Petition  of  Right.  They  had 
been  granted  by  Charles’s  first  Parliament  for  only  a  year,  but  he 
had  collected  them  ever  since.  The  Commons,  moreover,  renewed 
their  attack  on  Buckingham,  so  Charles  prorogued  Parliament. 

363.  Assassination  of  Buckingham  ;  Rochelle  Expedition.  1628. 
—  Having  now  enough  money,  the  king  planned  an  expedition 
for  the  relief  of  the  Protestants  of  Rochelle  in  France,  which  was 
besieged  by  the  French  forces.  Buckingham  was  to  lead  it,  but 
while  he  was  at  Portsmouth  ready  to  embark,  he  was  assassinated. 

The  expedition  sailed  for  Rochelle,  but  when  it  arrived  off  the 
harbor  and  the  masters  of  the  merchant  vessels  which  had  been 
pressed  into  service  saw  the  preparation  for  defense,  they  refused 
to  go  into  action  and  Rochelle  was  left  to  its  fate.  Charles 
later  (1^30)  made  peace  with  France  and  Spain. 

1  It  was  called  the  Petition  of  Right  to  show  that  it  was  intended  to  explain 
old  rights  and  privileges,  not  to  curtail  royal  prerogatives  or  gain  new  liberties. 


CHARLES  AND  RARLIAMENT 


303 


364.  Religious  Difficulties.  1629.  —  Meantime  other  difficulties 
existed  regarding  religious  doctrines  and  practices.  The  Catholic 
successes  on  the  Continent,  known  in  history  as  the  Counter- 
Reformation,  had  frightened  the  English  Protestants.  Besides, 
there  were  the  negotiations  of  James  and  Charles  with  France  and 
Spain,  both  Catholic  powers,  and  in  addition  the  fact  that  Queen 
Henrietta  Maria  was  a  Catholic. 

The  preaching  and  teaching  of  the  men  trained  in  the  con¬ 
tinental  schools  during  Mary’s  reign  had  brought  its  legitimate 
fruit,  and  a  large  number  of  the  educated  classes  were  now  strong 
Calvinists  and  Protestants,  while  their  representatives  had  an  over¬ 
whelming  majority  in  Parliament.  To  them  uniformity  in  Cal- 
vinistic  doctrine  was  essential.  Tolerance,  either  of  another’s 
belief,  or  of  his  religious  practice,  if  it  differed  from  Calvinism, 
was  believed  to  be  a  positive  sin. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  was  a  party  of  High  Churchmen 
strongly  opposed  to  Calvinism,  laying  much  stress  on  ritual  and 
ceremony.  The  followers  of  this  party,  believing  that  the  king  was 
the  head  of  the  church,  were  stanch  supporters  of  the  royal 
authority  and  high  in  favor  with  Charles.  The  Puritans  believed 
that  unless  the  royal  power  was  curtailed,  it  meant  the  complete 
supremacy  of  High  Church  authority.  Religion  and  politics  were, 
therefore,  inextricably  interwoven,  and  gave  a  bitterness  and 
relentlessness  to  the  struggle  which  a  purely  political  conflict 
would  not  have  had. 

365.  Parliament  of  1629.  Eliot’s  Resolutions.  Parliament 
Dissolved.  1629.  —  Parliament  met  in  1629.  The  question  of 
tonnage  and  poundage  came  up  again.  One  of  the  members  of 
Parliament  had  refused  to  pay  this  tax  and  had  been  imprisoned. 
Parliament  claimed  that  his  arrest  was  an  attack  on  their  privileges, 
one  of  which  was  that  members  should  be  secure  from  arrest.^ 

1  This  would  seem  to  have  been  an  extravagant  claim,  for  Parliament  was  not  in 
session  at  the  time,  but  technically  there  was  something  to  be  said  for  it.  Pym 
urged  the  Commons  to  dispute  tonnage  and  poundage  only  on  the  ground  that  it 
was  illegally  levied. 


304 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


Charles  steadfastly  refused  to  let  the  officers  who  had  arrested 
the  men  appear  before  the  Commons,  and  adjourned  the  House. 
He  was  unsuccessful  in  his  efforts  to  influence  members,  and  when 
the  House  came  together  again  he  sent  orders  for  another  adjourn¬ 
ment  (March  2,  1629).  The  members,  fearing  that  Parliament 
would  be  dissolved,  shut  the  doors  so  as  to  keep  the  king’s  mes¬ 
senger  from  coming  in,  and  also  to  insure  privacy.  Then  fol¬ 
lowed  a  scene  of  the  wildest  confusion,  during  which  the  Speaker 
was  forced  to  remain  in  his  chair  while  three  resolutions,  offered 
by  Eliot,  were  agreed  to  with  shouts  of  assent. 

The  substance  of  the  famous  articles  was  that  whoever  should 
bring  in  innovations  in  religion  or  any  opinions  differing  from  the 
“  true  and  orthodox  church  ” ;  or  who  should  advise  the  taking 
and  levying  of  tonnage  and  poundage,  if  not  granted  by  Parlia¬ 
ment,  or  be  an  actor  therein ;  or  who  should  voluntarily  yield  or 
pay  said  subsidies,  these  not  being  granted  by  Parliament  —  should 
be  reputed  a  capital  enemy  to  the  kingdom  and  commonwealth. 
As  soon  as  the  resolutions  were  passed  the  House  adjourned.  In 
a  few  days  Charles  dissolved  Parliament,  and  none  was  called  for 
eleven  years. 

366.  Punishment  of  Sir  John  Eliot  and  Others.  —  Charles 
determined  to  punish  the  chief  of  his  enemies.  Nine  members  of 
Parliament  were  brought  before  the  Privy  Council.  Most  of  them 
apologized  after  experiencing  imprisonment  anti  were  released ; 
the  others  were  brought  before  the  Court  of  King’s  Bench. 
These  denied  the  jurisdiction  of  the  court,  claiming  that  they 
could  not  be  called  in  question  for  what  was  said  within  the 
House  of  Commons.  They  were  charged  with  riot  and  sedition, 
and  were  condemned  to  pay  fines,  and  to  lie  in  prison  until  the 
fines  were  paid  and  apologies  made  to  the  king.  Sir  John  Eliot, 
who  was  one  of  them,  declined  to  pay  the  fine  or  to  apologize. 
He  lay  in  the  Tower  three  years ;  then,  having  contracted  con¬ 
sumption,  he  begged  to  be  allowed  his  liberty.  Charles  refused, 
and  in  a  month  Eliot  died  (1632),  a  martyr  to  the  cause  of  parlia- 


PERSONAL  RULE  OF  CHARLES  I 


305 


mentary  privilege  and  political  liberty.  To  the  earnest  and 
respectful  petition  of  his  son  that  his  body  might  be  taken  to  his 
old  home,  Charles  heartlessly  replied,  “  Let  Sir  John  Eliot  be 
buried  in  the  church  of  that  parish  where  he  died.”  So  he  was 
buried  within  the  inclosure  of  the  Tower  and  his  grave  is  now 
unknown.  Eliot’s  companions  in  imprisonment,  Valentine  and 
Strode,  remained  in  the  Tower  until  they  were  released  in  1640. 


Costumes  of  the  Nobility,  Time  of  Charles  I 


367.  Personal  Rule  of  Charles.  1629-1640.  —  Charles  now 
entered  upon  the  second  well-defined  period  of  his  reign  —  that  of 
personal  government  —  during  which  he  tried  to  get  on  without 
Parliament.  This  might  have  been  possible  had  it  not  been  for 
the  money  question.  Though  Charles  was  not  extravagant,  he  was 
not  economical,  and  the  ordinary  revenues  were  insufficient.  It 
must  not  be  supposed  that  the  government  was  altogether  bad ;  it 
was  the  principle  upon  which  the  government  was  administered,  its 
illegal  methods  of  raising  money,  and  the  punishments  it  inflicted 
for  refusals  to  pay  fines  and  levies,  that  were  evil.  Charles  and  his 
counselors  failed  to  realize  that  some  compromise  between  king 
and  Parliament  was  needful.  The  Commons  were  equally  unable 


3o6 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


to  understand  the  situation.  A  conflict  was  inevitable,  but  in 
bringing  it  to  an  issue  Chdrles  was  certainly  the  most  to  blame. 

Charles’s  later  advisers  were  Richard  Weston,  afterwards  Earl  of 
Portland,  Lord  Treasurer  ■,  William  Laud,  afterwards  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury ;  and  Sir  Thomas  Wentworth,  afterwards  Earl  of 
Strafford  —  all  able  men.  Weston  was  a  good  financier,  and  his 
skill  was  of  the  utmost  advantage  to  Charles.  But  Wentworth 
and  Laud  were  the  most  influential. 

368.  Sir  Thomas  Wentworth  ;  Laud.  —  Wentworth’s  course  has 
always  been  something  of  an  enigma :  he  was  one  of  the  most 
earnest  participators  in  the  early  debates  which  led  to  the 
passage  of  the  Petition  of  Right,  and  had  himself  drawn  the 
bill  first  presented  to  the  king,  but  took  no  active  part  in 
the  debate  regarding  the  Petition  itself,  and  then  went  over  to 
the  royal  side,  becoming  the  king’s  earnest  supporter.  He  was  a 
firm  believer  in  the  royal  power,  and  seems  to  have  been  honest  in 
his  conviction  that  a  despotic  rule  was  best  for  the  country,  and 
that  it  was  more  likely  that  a  king  would  be  intelligent  and  patriotic 
than  a  Parliament.  But  he  had  an  ill-concealed  contempt  for 
public  opinion,  for  the  people  as  the  source  of  power,  and  for 
individual  liberty. 

William  Laud,  the  last  of  the  three  great  advisers,  was,  like 
Wentworth,  conspicuously  an  honest  man.  He  was  a  zealous 
High  Churchman  and  hated  Puritanism.  He  was  a  strong  up¬ 
holder  of  uniformity  in  church  services,  and  indeed  of  outward 
conformity  in  every  way.  He  was  a  persecutor,  just  as  those  in 
power  had  been  under  Mary  and  Elizabeth.  He  differed  from 
them  in  this,  that  he  did  not  put  to  death,  but  all  that  imprison¬ 
ment,  mutilation,  loss  of  position,  and  exile  could  do  was  done. 
The  press  was  under  the  control  of  the  archbishop,  therefore  no 
Puritan  sermon,  tract,  or  treatise  was  allowed  to  be  published  ;  it 
had  been  customary  in  many  places  for  the  churches  to  be  used  as 
halls  for  ‘discussion  and  meetings  of  various  kinds  ;  this  was  strictly 
prohibited,  and  lecturers  and  private  chaplains  were  forbidden  to 


THE  STAR  CHAMBER 


307 


address  an  audience.  When  men  and  women  met  in  the  woods 
or  in  barns  to  hold  devotional  services  they  were  seized  and  tried 
for  illegal  worship.  Like  Wentworth,  Laud  had  no  sympathy  with 
free  thought  and  the  doctrine  of  individual  liberty.  One  result  of 
his  policy  was  to  send  twenty  thousand  men  and  women  of  the 
sturdiest  blood  in  England  to  seek  a  home  in  the  wilds  of  North 
America.  In  this  way  Laud  was  really  the  founder  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  supremacy  in  North  America,  for  it  is  hardly  to  be  supposed 
that  except  to  escape  religious  persecution  so  many  of  that  class 
would  have  braved  the  suffering  and  the  risks  of  a  seventeenth 
century  emigration. 

369.  The  Star  Chamber ;  High  Commission ;  Council  of  the 
North. — The  government  of  the  country  was  now  practically 
carried  on  by  Wentworth  and  Laud.  There  were  three  tribunals 
which  were  made  instruments  of  much  tyranny.  These  were  the 
Court  of  Star  Chamber,  the  Court  of  High  Commission,  and  the 
Council  of  the  North, ^  all  of  them,  for  the  purposes  to  which  they 
were  now  put,  of  questionable  legality. 

Those  who  were  accused  of  resisting  the  royal  will  were  brought 
before  the  Star  Chamber.  For  instance,  Doctor  Alexander  Leigh- 

1  The  Court  of  Star  Chamber  was  a  court  organized  in  1487  for  the  trial  of  of¬ 
fenders,  especially  nobles  and  powerful  men,  and  those  who  could  not  be  reached 
so  well  through  the  ordinary  tribunals.  It  was  composed  of  members  of  the 
Privy  Council  (§  219). 

The  Court  of  High  Commission  was  instituted  by  Mary  in  1557  for  the  purpose 
of  examining  and  punishing  cases  of  heresy  and  schism.  It  was  reorganized  under 
Elizabeth  (1559)  and  made  a  permanent  tribunal  in  1583.  It  was  composed  of 
prelates.  Privy  Councilors,  and  a  few  others. 

The  Council  of  the  North  was  originally  established  by  Henry  VHI  after  the 
Pilgrimage  of  Grace  (§  247)  to  keep  the  northern  counties  in  order  and  ad¬ 
minister  justice  in  the  king’s  name.  Wentworth,  soon  after  he  joined  the  king’s 
party,  had  been  appointed  its  president,  and  had  reorganized  it  after  the  plan  of 
the  Star  Chamber.  It  was  composed  of  members  of  the  Privy  Council. 

Still  another  court  was  the  Council  of  Wales,  set  up  in  1536  by  Henry  VIII ;  it 
was  similar  to  the  Council  of  the  North. 

All  these  courts,  however  excellent  they  had  been,  had  become  the  instruments 
of  tyranny.  They  tried  cases  without  a  jury  and  often  arbitrarily.  They  violated 
the  first  principles  of  justice,  for  the  members  of  the  courts  were  too  often  both 
accusers  and  judges.  All  were  abolished  by  Parliament  in  1641. 


3o8 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


ton,  a  Scotch  physician  and  minister  resident  in  London,  presented 
a  petition  to  Parliament  for  the  abolition  of  episcopacy,  and  after¬ 
wards  expanded  it  into  a  book  in  which  all  the  ills  of  the  country 
were  charged  to  the  king  and  the  bishops.  For  this  he  was  brought 
before  the  Court  of  Star  Chamber,  and  condemned  to  be  flogged, 
and  to  have  his  nose  slit,  one  ear  cut  off,  and  his  face  branded. 
William  Prynne  published  a  long  and  dreary,  but  severe,  attack 
upon  the  stage,  called  Histriomasiix,  or  the  Scourge  of  Stage- 
players.  In  it  he  was  specially  severe  on  actresses.  It  happened 
that  the  queen  had  just  taken  part  in  some  theatricals  at  the  court, 
and  it  was  held  that  he  had  not  only  attacked  the  king,  who  sup¬ 
ported  the  stage,  but  also  the  queen.  For  this  offense  he  was 
expelled  from  the  bar,  deprived  of  his  university  degree,  sentenced 
to  lose  his  ears  in  the  pillory,  to  pay  a  heavy  fine,  and  to  be 
imprisoned  at  the  king’s  pleasure.  This  was  in  1633-1634.  In 
1637  Prynne  with  two  others  incurred  the  wrath  of  Archbishop 
Laud,  by  publishing,  from  their  prison,  books  attacking  the  bishops. 
The  offenders  were  brought  before  the  Court  of  Star  Chamber,  and 
were  heavily  fined  ;  the  ears  of  Prynne’s  companions  were  cut  off, 
ihis  own  were  sheared  more  closely,  and  the  three  men  were  sent 
to  distant  separate  prisons,  and  finally  to  the  Channel  Islands. 
On  their  way  from  the  prison  to  the  pillory  they  were  greeted  by 
thousands  of  sympathizers  and  hailed  as  martyrs. 

370.  The  Policy  of  “Thorough.”  —  Laud  and  Wentworth 
became  close  friends  and  supported  each  other.  Laud  told  Went¬ 
worth  that  he  “  was  all  for  ‘  thorough,’ '  the  system  of  complete  dis¬ 
cipline  on  which  his  heart  was  set.”  Laud  was  the  better  able  to 
carry  out  his  principle  of  “  thorough  ”  because  he  was  a  member 
both  of  the  Court  of  Star  Chamber  and  of  the  Court  of  High 
Commission.  In  the  course  of  three  years  he  caused  every  parish 
in  England  to  be  visited  and  the  practices  of  the  clergymen  in- 

1  This  word  “  thorough  "  has  been  inseparably  joined  with  the  name  of  Went¬ 
worth,  thougli  Laud  seems  to  have  been  tlie  first  to  suggest  it.  In  their  use  it  meant 
“  the  prompt  and  resolute  prosecution  of  any  policy." 


LAUD  AND  WENTWORTH 


309 


quired  into.  If  any  deviation  from  the  precise  form  of  the  Prayer 
Book  was  found,  or  if  anything  was  not  done  in  exact  accord 
with  directions,  Laud  was  informed  and  unless  the  clergyman  con¬ 
formed  he  was  cited  to  appear  before  the  Court  of  High  Commis¬ 
sion,  and  was  either  suspended  or  deprived  of  his  office.  That 
there  was  in  many  places  need  of  better  order  and  decorum  is 
quite  likely,  but  Laud  was  doubtless  not  aware  how  much  Puritanism 
had  increased  ;  his  requirements  seemed  to  many  like  a  return  to 
Catholicism,  and  it  was  honestly  believed  in  some  quarters  that  it 
was  Laud’s  idea  to  bring  England  back  to  Rome. 

371.  “Book  of  Sports.”  1633.  — At  Laud’s  advice  Charles 
issued  the  Book  of  Sports.  This  was  a  declaration,  originally 
drawn  up  in  the 
reign  of  James  I 
(i  6  I  8),  stating 
that  certain  sports, 
such  as  bowls, 
leaping,  wrestling, 
vaulting,  etc.,  were 
lawful  on  Sundays. 

Had  the  procla¬ 
mation  been  made 
in  the  usual  way, 
it  would  hardly 
have  made  much 
disturbance ;  but  every  clergyman  was  ordered  by  Laud  to  read  it 
from  his  pulpit  after  service  on  a  Sunday.  To  many  this  seemed 
a  direct  violation  of  the  law  of  God ;  some  refused  to  read,  and 
others  got  around  it  in  various  ways.  One  clergyman,  it  is  said, 
read  the  declaration  and  then  the  Ten  Commandments,  saying, 
“  Dearly  beloved,  you  have  heard  the  commandment  of  God  and 
of  man  ;  obey  which  you  please.” 

372.  Wentworth  in  Ireland.  1633-1639.  —  Meanwhile  Went¬ 
worth  had  been  appointed  Lord  Deputy  of  Ireland.  He  assumed 


Boys’  Sports 
From  a  book  of  1659 


310 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


charge  of  that  island  in  1633,  and  immediately  put  into  vigorous 
practice  his  policy  of  “  thorough.”  In  his  administration  he 
showed  his  extraordinary  power  of  organization  and  government. 
He  ruled  despotically,  he  required  implicit  obedience,  and  he  was 
often  unjust.  “  He  moved  straight  to  his  object  over  all  obstacles 
whatever,  and  if  he  found  his  path  obstructed  by  disloyal  and 
contumacious  persons,  he  scrupled  little  as  to  the  particular  method 
whereby  to  brush  them  aside ;  ”  but  after  six  years  of  rule  he  left 
Ireland  more  prosperous  than  she  had  ever  been  before.  Trade 
had  never  been  so  profitable  or  so  extensive,  the  linen  industry  had 
been  introduced,  the  revenues  of  the  island  showed  a  surplus  in¬ 
stead  of  a  deficit,  churches  which  had  been  in  ruins  had  been  re¬ 
built,  well-considered  laws  had  been  enacted  and  were  enforced, 
and  the  Irish  Sea  was  cleared  of  the  pirates  who  had  long  infested 
it.  Besides  this  he  had  created  an  army,  well  drilled  and  effec¬ 
tive.  But  his  rule  was  hateful  to  all  classes  in  Ireland. 

373.  Gustavus  Adolphus  ;  Thirty  Years’ War.  1630-1632. — 
On  the  Continent  the  Thirty  Years’  War  (§  351)  was  still  devastat¬ 
ing  Europe.  The  Protestants  had  at  last  found  a  leader  in  Gus¬ 
tavus  Adolphus,  the  famous  king  of  Sweden,  and  the  tide  seemed 
to  be  turning.  The  English  people  were  deeply  interested  in  the 
success  of  Gustavus,  and  would  have  gladly  aided  him,  but  with 
the  exception  of  some  Scotch  and  English  volunteers,  no  aid  was 
extended.  Charles  had  no  sympathy  with  the  religious  movement. 
At  Liitzen  (1632),  the  great  Gustavus  lost  his  life,  and  for  sixteen 
or  seventeen  years  longer  the  terribly  devastating  war  dragged  on. 

374.  Ship  Money.  1634.  —  Various  expedients  were  adopted  by 
Charles  to  raise  money  without  summoning  Parliament.  These 
were  principally  the  revival  and  extension  of  old  royal  prerogatives, 
the  best  known  of  which  was  “  ship  money.”  In  old  times  during 
war  a  king  could  call  on  the  seaport  towns  for  ships  to  defend  the 
realm.  .  This  right  Charles,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  attorney- 
general,  Noy,  determined  to  revive  (1634).  London  responded 
with  a  certain  number  of  vessels,  but  the  other  towns  gave  money. 


SHIP  MONEY 


3II 

This  method  was  so  successful  that  Charles  resolved  to  extend  it 
to  inland  towns  (1635).  These  of  course  would  furnish  money, 
not  ships.  Charles  spent  the  revenue  thus  secured  upon  a  navy. 
A  third  writ  of  ship  money  was  made  in  1636.  It  was  now  clear 
that  the  king  meant  to  impose  a  permanent  and  general  tax. 
There  was  much  grumbling,  and,  to  make  a  test  case,  John  Hamp¬ 
den,  a  wealthy  country  gentleman  of  Buckinghamshire,  refused  to  pay 
the  amount  for  which  he  was  assessed.  It  was  a  matter  of  only 
twenty  shillings,  but  with  him  resistance  was  a  matter  of  principle.^ 

The  case  was  tried  (1638)  before  twelve  judges,  and  seven  of 
the  twelve  pronounced  in  favor  of  the  king.  The  claim  was  made 
that  “  ship  money  ”  was  not  a  tax,  but  money  contributed  for  the 
defense  of  the  realm  instead  of  personal  service.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  was  argued  that  it  was  a  tax  levied  without  consent  of 
Parliament.  The  small  majority  by  which  the  king’s  victory  was 
obtained  took  from  it  much  of  its  value,  while  the  arguments  of 
the  lawyers  and  the  opinions  of  the  judges  excited  the  deepest 
interest  and  were  read  far  and  wide.^  The  tax  was  felt  by  every 
one  who  had  any  property,  and  Hampden’s  case  brought  the 
whole  question  of  royal  power  before  the  country  as  nothing  else 
had  done.  Ship  money  continued  to  be  collected,  but  it  was  paid 
with  more  and  more  reluctance. 

375.  Enlargement  of  the  Forests.  —  The  king  also  obtained 
funds  by  extending  the  bounds  of  the  royal  forests,  in  connection 
with  which  fines  were  imposed.  Originally  very  much  of  the 
land  of  the  kingdom  had  lain  within  the  domains  of  what  were 
known  as  the  royal  forests,  but  for  more  than  three  hundred  years 
these  boundaries  had  been  fixed  in  accordance  with  an  arrange¬ 
ment  made  in  the  reign  of  Edward  I  (1272-1307).  The  king 

1  Lord  Saye,  one  of  the  Puritan  lords,  also  protested,  but  Hampden’s  was  made 
the  test  case. 

2  Finch,  the  Chief  Justice,  in  his  opinion  upheld  the  absolute  power  of  the  king. 
“  Undoubtedly,”  said  a  contemporary, ''  my  Lord  I'inch’s  speech  made  ship  money 
much  more  abhorred  and  formidable  than  all  the  commandments  by  the  Council 
table  and  all  the  distresses  taken  by  the  sheriffs  of  England.” 


312 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


now  set  up  a  claim  that  this  arrangement  was  invalid  and  seized 
large  tracts.  The  occupiers  of  these  lands  were  compelled  to  pay 
fines  or  lose  their  property.^ 

376.  Scottish  Opposition.  —  The  first  open  revolt  against  arbi¬ 
trary  royal  power  came  from  Scotland.  Though  England  and 
Scotland  had  now  the  same  king,  they  continued  to  have  separate 
laws  and  separate  Parliaments.  Charles’s  first  visit  to  Scotland 
after  his  accession  had  been  in  1633  ;  he  had  been  enthusiasti¬ 
cally  received  and  was  crowned  at  Holyrood.  But  he  very  soon 
managed  to  arouse  strong  opposition. 

Neither  Charles  nor  Laud  could  rest  until  a  new  Prayer  Book 
was  drawn  up  for  Scotland.  Though  this  was  more  Protestant  than 
was  the  English  book,  it  was  still  a  church  service  book  and  was 
called  the  “  mass  in  English  ” ;  for  Scotland,  even  among  the 
ranks  of  the  clergy,  was  overwhelmingly  Puritan. 

377.  The  Scottish  Liturgy;  the  Covenant.  1638.  —  The  new 
Liturgy  was  read  for  the  first  time  in  St.  Giles’s  church,  Edinburgh. 
Hardly  were  the  opening  words  uttered  when  a  scene  of  great 
confusion  took  place.  Women  shouted  their  disapprobation,  and 
it  is  said  one  woman  threw  a  stool  at  the  dean’s  head,  narrowly 
missing  the  archbishop.  The  Council  ordered  the  omission  of 
both  the  old  and  the  new  services  till  the  king’s  pleasure  could  be 
known.  Charles  refused  to  yield,  but  it  was  impossible  to  find  a 
clergyman  in  Edinburgh  who  would  use  the  book. 

Resistance  to  the  royal  command  became  almost  universal,  and 
thousands  signed  a  national  covenant,  engaging  to  defend  the 
reformed  religion,  and  promising  “  to  labor  by  all  means  lawful  to 
recover  the  purity  and  liberty  of  the  gospel,  as  it  was  established 
and  professed  before  the  innovations.” 

An  assembly  of  the  church  held  at  Glasgow  declared  that  the 
king  had  no  right  to  meddle  with  the  religion  of  a  nation,  and 
went  on  to  abolish  episcopacy,  canons,  and  liturgy. 

1  Seventeen  villages  were  added  to  the  Forest  of  Dean ;  Rockingham  Forest 
was  enlarged  from  six  miles  to  sixty,  and  Waltham  Forest  in  similar  fashion. 


TROUBLES  IN  SCOTLAND 


378.  Scottish  Rebellion;  Treaty  of  Berwick.  1639.  —  This 
was  rebellion  indeed.  Charles’s  treasury  was  empty,  he  had  no 
army,  and  little  moral  support.  By  forced  loans  and  other  means 
he  collected  enough  money  to  raise  12,000  troops,  but  they  were 
mutinous,  ill-trained,  and  unsympathetic.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
troops  which  the  Scots  gathered  were  well  disciplined,  ably  led,  and 
were  full  of  enthusiasm  for  their  cause. 

Charles,  finding  that  his  men  would  not  fight,  was  compelled  to 
negotiate  with  the  Scots  the  verbal  treaty  of  Berwick  (June  2, 
1639).  The  substance  of  this  agreement  was  that  Charles  prom¬ 
ised  the  Scots  a  General  Assembly,  a  free  Parliament,  and  an  act 
of  pardon  and  oblivion  ;  while  the  Scots,  on  their  side,  agreed  to 
disband  the  troops,  to  do  away  with  unlawful  committees,  and 
to  restore  the  castles  to  the  king’s  officers.  The  statements  were 
vague  and  no  provision  was  made  for  possible  disagreements. 
The  Scottish  Assembly  and  Parliament  (1639)  insisted  on  the  abo¬ 
lition  of  episcopacy,  and  on  other  matters  almost  equally  distaste¬ 
ful  to  Charles.  The  bodies  were  adjourned  and  Charles  again 
determined  to  try  force. 

379.  Strafford  (Wentworth);  “Short  Parliament,”  1640; 
Advance  of  the  Scots.  —  Charles  now  chose  for  his  chief  adviser 
Wentworth,  who  was  recalled  from  Ireland  and  created  Earl  of 
Strafford.  Much  as  Strafford  disliked  and  distrusted  English  Parlia¬ 
ments,  he  saw  that  the  only  chance  for  the  success  of  Charles  in 
Scotland  lay  in  gaining  the  support  of  England,  and  this  must  come 
through  Parliament.  Charles  unwillingly  followed  his  advice,  and 
in  April,  1640,  after  an  interval  of  eleven  years.  Parliament  met. 
But  under  the  leadership  of  Pym  and  Hampden,  Parliament  posi¬ 
tively  refused  to  grant  any  supplies  until  grievances  were  redressed. 
Charles  was  not  ready  for  this,  and  after  three  weeks  the  Parlia¬ 
ment,  without  passing  a  single  act,  was  dissolved  (May  5,  1640). 
From  its  brief  session  it  is  known  as  the  “Short  Parliament.” 

The  Scots  invaded  England  (August,  1640).  Again  Charles 
managed  to  raise  an  army  and  sent  it  to  the  North,  but  it  fell  back 


314 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


before  the  enemy,  leaving  an  open  path  for  the  invaders.  The 
Scots  entered  Yorkshire,  and  Charles  was  forced  to  treat  with  them. 
He  promised  to  pay  the  expenses  of  their  army  until  a  permanent 
treaty  could  be  arranged,  and  as  a  pledge  left  Durham  and 
Northumberland  in  their  hands.  He  called  a  great  council  of  the 
peers  at  York  for  advice,  but  they  could  only  advise  him  to  call 
another  Parliament  and  to  open  fresh  negotiations  with  the  Scots. 

380.  Beginning  of  the  “Long  Parliament.”  1640.  —  As  there 
was  nothing  else  for  him  to  do,  Charles  summoned  a  Parliament. 
From  the  length  of  its  existence  it  is  known  as  the  “  Long  Parlia¬ 
ment.  ”  ^  It  consisted  largely  of  country  gentlemen,  among  whom 
were  John  Pym,  John  Hampden,  Edward  Hyde,  and  a  man,  almost 
unknown  at  the  time,  but  destined  to  become  the  greatest  of  them 
all  —  Oliver  Cromwell. 

It  began  its  sessions  November  3,  1640.  Pym  at  once  took  a 
leading  part.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  Parliament  voiced 
the  popular  feeling  as  few  of  its  predecessors  had  done,  and  more¬ 
over  had  behind  it  the  Scottish  army,  ready  to  march  at  any  moment 
if  Charles  failed  to  keep  his  promise  of  paying  its  expenses.  This 
payment,  as  no  one  knew  better  than  Charles,  was  impossible  unless 
Parliament  voted  supplies.  The  Parliament  came  together  believ¬ 
ing  that  the  whole  body  politic  needed  reformation.  Three 
things  were  to  be  done  at  once  :  (i)  the  victims  of  Charles’s  arbi¬ 
trary  government  were  to  be  set  at  liberty;  (2)  the  king’s  advisers 
and  ministers  were  to  be  punished ;  (3)  the  government  of  the 
realm  was  to  be  so  modified  as  to  prevent  arbitrary  rule  in  the  future. 

In  pursuance  of  the  above  determination,  Prynne,  Leighton,  and 
others  were  released  from  prison ;  Strafford  was  impeached  on  a 
charge  of  treason,  and  soon  after  Laud  was  imprisoned. 

381.  Trial  of  Strafford.  1641.  —  The  trial  of  Strafford  is  one 
of  the  most  celebrated  in  English  annals.  He  was  at  the  head 
of  the  king’s  army  in  Yorkshire  and  in  comparative  safety.  He 
was  fully  aware  of  the  risk  he  ran  in  coming  to  London,  but, 

1  Beginning  November  3. 1640,  it  was  not  formally  dissolved  until  March  16, 1660. 


THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT 


315 


Execution  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford 
After  a  contemporary  print 


Charles  having  assured  him  that  if  he  came  “  he  should  not  suf¬ 
fer  in  his  person,  honor,  or  fortune,”  he  made  the  journey.  He 
was  at  once  impeached  by  the  Commons  and  sent  to  the  Tower. 

Strafford’s  trial  began  before  the  Lords  in  the  great  West¬ 
minster  Hall,  March  22,  1641.  After  the  trial  had  lasted  more 
than  three  weeks  the  Commons,  becoming  assured  that  from  lack 
of  legal  evidence  he  would  not  be  convicted  of  treason,  passed  a 
bill  of  attainder,  which  required  a  simple  majority  vote,  and  sent 
it  to  the  Lords.  Had  the  Lords  not  heard  rumors  of  a  royal  plot 
to  liberate  Strafford  and  intimidate  Parliament  by  bringing  the 
army  from  Yorkshire,  it  is  possible  that  the  bill  would  have  been 
rejected.  But  convinced  that  the  king’s  chief  adviser  was  a  dan¬ 
gerous  man,  they  passed  the  bill  by  a  small  majority.  The  signa¬ 
ture  of  Charles  was  still  required  to  make  the  bill  effective.  To 
his  eternal  discredit,  Charles  authorized  a  commission  to  give  the 


3i6 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


royal  assent,*  thus  breaking  his  word  of  honor  to  Strafford.  “Put 
not  your  trust  in  princes,  nor  in  the  sons  of  men,  for  in  them 
there  is  no  salvation,”^  Strafford  exclaimed,  when  the  news  of 
Charles’s  action  reached  him.  He  was  executed  on  May  12,  1641, 
“  rather  because  men  feared  his  ability  than  because  his  offenses 
were  legally  punishable  with  death.”® 

382.  Legislation  of  the  “Long  Parliament.”  1641.  —  The 
“Long  Parliament”  passed  what  is  known  as  the  Triennial  Bill. 
This  required  that  every  Parliament  should  sit  not  less  than  fifty 
days,  and  that  a  Parliament,  whether  summoned  by  the  king  or 
not,  should  meet  at  least  once  in  three  years.  Charles  was  com¬ 
pelled  by  the  condition  of  affairs  to  sign  this  bill.  The  Courts  of 
Star  Chamber  and  High  Commission,  the  Councils  of  the  North,  of 
Wales,  of  Lancaster,  and  of  Chester  (§  369),  were  abolished,  and 
the  districts  formerly  covered  by  them  were  placed  under  the 
common  law.  Ship  money,  compulsory  knighthood,  and  the 
work  of  the  forest  commissions  were  done  away  with,  tonnage  and 
poundage  was  declared  to  be  illegal,  and  various  other  reforms  were 
made  effective.  Judges  were  hereafter  to  hold  office  during  good 
behavior  and  be  no  longer  removable  at  the  king’s  pleasure. 

Thus  far,  the  “  Long  Parliament  ”  had  acted,  in  the  main,  on 
the  line  of  reformation  rather  than  revolution.  Even  the  treat¬ 
ment  of  Strafford,  under  the  circumstances,  might  be  condoned ; 

1  In  an  impeachment  the  Lords  would  be  obliged  to  decide  according  to  the 
law,  and  the  evidence  submitted;  while  in  a  bill  of  attainder  they  could  act  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  spirit  rather  than  the  letter.  In  an  impeachment  the  accused  has 
the  opportunity  of  making  a  defense,  of  which  Strafford  made  good  use;  in  a  bill 
of  attainder  the  accused  is  condemned  unheard.  There  is  little  question  that  in 
the  earlier  days,  at  least,  men  were  condemned  by  a  bill  of  attainder,  because  it 
made  the  nation  responsible,  and  the  monarch  could  thus  shift  the  responsibility  to 
Parliament,  or  divide  it  with  that  body.  The  gross  injustice  of  such  bills  made  the 
framers  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  insert  the  article  forbidding  them. 
(Article  I,  §  9.)  They  are  now  universally  abolished. 

2  So  given  in  Whitelock’s  Memorials ;  compare  Psalm  146:  3. 

3  The  populace  in  London  demanded  Strafford’s  death,  and  a  mob  gathered 
around  the  palace  of  Whitehall,  shouting  for  his  execution.  Charles  claimed  that 
the  life  of  his  queen  and  of  his  children  were  in  danger,  and  this  was  his  excuse 
for  giving  assent  to  the  bill. 


THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT 


317 


but  the  Parliament  did  not  stop  with  these  things.  Among  other 
acts,  a  bill  was  passed  forbidding  the  dissolution  of  Parliament  ex¬ 
cept  with  its  own  consent.^  This  prevented  a  monarch  from  ap¬ 
pealing  to  the  people  by  ordering  a  new  election,  and  made  it 
possible,  as  was  afterwards  abundantly  shown,  for  Parliament  to 
become  as  great  a  tyrant  as  the  king  had  ever  been.^ 

383.  Ecclesiastical  Measures  ;  Distrust  of  the  King.  1641.  — 

An  act,  known  as  the  “  Root  and  Branch  Bill,”  which  provided 

for  the  abolition  of  episcopacy,  failed,  for  though  many  were 
willing  that  most  of  the  innovations  introduced  by  Laud  should 
be  done  away  with,  they  were  not  ready  to  abolish  episcopacy. 

Charles  visited  Scotland,  as  there  now  seems  no  doubt,  to  try  to 
persuade  the  Scots  to  support  him  in  his  endeavors  to  coerce  the 
English  Parliament.  But  Ireland  suddenly  claimed  his  attention. 
The  native  Irish  had  risen  in  rebellion  against  the  English  and 
Scottish  settlers,  and  it  was  reported  that  terrible  atrocities  were 
taking  place  in  that  island.  Could  Charles  be  trusted  with  the 
command  of  an  army?  It  was  even  rumored  that  the  king  and 
queen  were  in  sympathy  with  the  rebels. 

384.  The  Grand  Remonstrance.  1641.  —  Parliament  in  justi¬ 
fication  of  its  position  drew  up  a  paper  known  as  “  The  Grand 
Remonstrance,”  in  which  the  evil  deeds  of  the  king  and  his  coun¬ 
selors  were  set  forth  at  great  length.®  To  this  there  was  compara¬ 
tively  little  objection,  but  when  it  was  proposed  to  name  the  rem¬ 
edies  for  these  evils,  a  very  decided  difference  of  opinion  was 
manifested.  The  debate  on  the  document  was  long  and  passionate, 
and  not  until  the  early  hours  of  the  morning,  by  the  small  majority 
of  eleven  in  a  House  of  three  hundred  and  seven  members,  was 

'  Charles  with  great  reluctance  signed  the  bill. 

2  In  republics  and  constitutional  monarchies  this  possibility  is  met  by  fixing  the 
exact  time  for  which  legislative  bodies  are  elected,  or  by  limiting  the  period  of  their 
existence.  In  England  by  the  Septennial  Act  (1716)  no  Parliament  could  sit  for 
more  than  seven  years,  and  by  the  Act  of  1911  *be  limit  has  been  reduced  to  five 
years.  The  average  length  of  Parliaments  has  been  about  three  or  four  years. 

3  It  contained  206  clauses. 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


318 

the  bill  passed.  It  was  ordered  to  be  presented  to  the  king  and 
to  be  printed  for  distribution. 

385.  Attempted Arrest  of  the  Five  Members.”  1642. — There 
was  a  decided  reaction  in  favor  of  Charles  ;  and  if  he  had  possessed 
any  wisdom,  or  if  he  had  shown  himself  deserving  of  confidence, 
reformation  rather  than  revolution  would  have  been  the  outcome. 
But  his  words  and  conduct  dissipated  any  hope  of  conciliation. 

He  believed  that  he  had  proof  that  Pym  and  his  friends,  during 
the  late  troubles  (1640),  had  invited  the  Scots  to  enter  England 
under  arms.  If  this  were  true,  they  were  legally  guilty  of  treason. 
He  therefore  ordered  the  Attorney-General  to  impeach  them  as 
traitors  before  the  House  of  Lords.  His  right  to  do  this  was 
questionable.'  Not  content  with  this,  the  next  day  (January  4, 
1642),  followed  by  about  four  hundred  men,  he  went  to  the  House 
of  Commons,  and  demanded  that  the  five  members  should  be  given 
up  to  him.^  Intelligence  of  the  king’s  purpose  had  reached  the 
accused,  and  slipping  out  of  the  House,  they  were  conveyed  by  way 
of  the  river  to  the  city.®  It  was  not  a  moment  too  soon,  for,  as 
they  were  entering  the  boat,-  the  king  passed  into  the  House. 
He  advanced  to  the  Speaker’s  chair  and  told  the  House  that  he 
had  come  for  the  five  traitors,  but  when  he  looked  around  he  could 
not  see  them.  After  some  words  he  turned  to  withdraw  and  was 
followed  by  cries  of  “  Privilege,”  “Privilege.”  This  attempt  of 
Charles  to  intimidate  the  House  with  an  armed  force  was  a  stu¬ 
pendous  blunder;'  it  roused  opposition  to  his  cause  as  nothing 
else  had  done  ;  and  it  confirmed  Parliament  in  the  opinion  that 
it  was  useless  to  treat  with  him.  The  inhabitants  of -the  city  of 
London,  who  had  welcomed  him  joyfully  a  short  time  before, 

1  The  right  of  impeachment  rested,  by  custom,  with  the  House  of  Commons. 
In  the  United  States  it  rests  with  the  House  of  Representatives. 

2  The  accused  were  Lord  Kimbolton  of  the  House  of  Lords,  and  Pym,  Holies, 
Hampden,  Haslerig,  and  Strode  of  the  Commons. 

3  The  ",  city  ”  was  London  proper,  from  Temple  Bar  eastward  beyond  the 
Tower.  Parliament  sat  in  Westmiltster,  which  was  west  of  Temple  Bar. 

^  The  king's  right  to  arrest  any  one  personally  was  open  to  question,  because  as 
the  king's  person  was  sacred,  there  would  be  no  remedy  for  a  false  arrest. 


CHARLES  LEAVES  LONDON 


319 


were  now  hopelessly  alienated.  The  Commons  voted  that  the 
king’s  entrance  by  force  was  a  breach  of  “  privilege,”  and  that  the 
attempted  arrest  of  the  five  members  was  “  false,  scandalous,  and 
illegal.”  Deeming  Westminster  unsafe,  they  adjourned  to  the  city. 

386.  The  King  leaves  London.  —  On  the  loth  of  January  (1642), 
Charles,  believing 
it  to  be  a  safer 
place,  retired  with 
the  queen  and  his 
children  to  Hamp¬ 
ton  Court.  He 
did  not  see  Lon¬ 
don  again  until  he 
came  as  a  prisoner 
to  stand  his  trial 
and  meet  his  death 
(1649). 

On  the  depar¬ 
ture  of  Charles, 
the  Commons  re¬ 
turned  to  West¬ 
minster  in  triumph. 

The  king  had  placed  himself  distinctly  in  the  wrong.  During  the 
first  six  months  of  1642  efforts  were  made  both  by  king  and  Parlia¬ 
ment  to  gain  control  of  the  military  forces  of  the  kingdom  and  to  put 
themselves  legally  in  the  right.  A  bill  for  the  exclusion  of  the 
bishops  from  the  House  of  Lords  was,  by  the  advice  of  the  queen, 
signed  by  the  king,  and  this  was  the  last  important  concession 
which  he  made.  Soon  afterwards,  Henrietta  Maria,  the  queen, 
fled  from  the  kingdom  with  the  crown  jewels,  intending  to  sell 
them  and  raise  an  army  for  Charles. 

Parliament  was  undoubtedly  moved  by  the  concessions  made ; 
but  various  incidents,  and  especially  a  warrant  of  the  king  author¬ 
izing  the  Earl  of  Newcastle  to  take  possession  of  Hull,  one  of  the 


Taken  down  in  1878;  reerected  near  Waltham 
Cross,  1888. 


320 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


few  strong  fortresses  of  the  kingdom,  brought  back  all  the  old  dis¬ 
trust  of  Charlesd 

387.  The  Militia  Bill,  1642  ;  The  Nineteen  Propositions,  1642. 
—  Parliament  retaliated  by  passing  the  Militia  Bill,  by  which  the 
control  of  the  army,  militia,  and  all  military  stores  and  arms  was 
given  to  Parliament.  Charles  refused  to  agree  to  give  up  what  had 
always  been  the  royal  prerogative.  On  learning  of  his  refusal  both 
Houses  made  the  bill  an  “  Ordinance  ”  -  and  determined  to  en¬ 
force  it  without  the  king’s  consent. 

In  June,  1642,  Parliament  sent  to  the  king  at  Oxford  what  are 
known  as  “The  Nineteen  Propositions.”  These  were  revolution¬ 
ary  in  character,  for  by  them  all  power,  executive  as  well  as  legis¬ 
lative,  would,  for  all  intents  and  purposes,  be  placed  in  Parliament. 
It  was  impossible  for  Charles  to  assent  to  any  such  proposals,  and 
it  cannot  be  supposed  that  the  majority  of  the  nation  would  have 
approved  of  them  at  that  time.* 

References.  —  Green,  Short  Ifisiory,  chap,  viii  (§§  1-6);  Gardiner, 
Student's  History,  chaps,  xxxi-xxxiii;  Terry,  History,  Part  III,  Book  III, 
chaps,  i-iii  (pp.  618-680);  Tout,  Advanced  History,  Book  II,  chaps,  i-ii 
(§  28);  Gardiner,  Puritan  Revolution,  chaps,  i-vi  ;  Traill,  Social  England, 
vol.  IV,  chap,  xiii;  Adams  and  Stephens,  Select  Documents  (§§  181-206); 
Cheyney,  Readings,  chaps,  xiv-xv  (§  ll);  Colby,  Selections  (§§  68-73); 
Kendall,  Source-Book  (§§  69-79);  Lee,  Source-Book  (§§  148-159). 

iThis  seemed  sufficient  proof  that  he  was  intending  to  use  force. 

2  The  first  ordinance  of  this  kind  had  been  passed  in  1641,  and  from  this  time 
an  ordinance  was  understood  to  mean  “  a  declaration  of  the  two  Houses  without 
the  necessary  concurrence  of  the  king.” 

3  Parliament  at  the  present  day  does  govern  England  executively  as  well  as 
legislatively,  but  only  through  the  cabinet,  which  is  really  a  committee  of 
Parliament.  This,  however,  is  a  very  different  thing  from  direct  executive  action, 
which  Parliament  in  June,  1642,  proposed  to  establish,  and  actually  attempted 
later.  Besides  this  in  1642  Parliament  strove  to  force  its  will  on  the  nation,  while 
now  it  professes  to  abide  by  the  will  of  the  people,  and  a  new  election  of  members 
must  be  held  at  least  once  in  five  years. 


CHAPTER  XX 


THE  PURITAN  REVOLUTION  AND  THE  COMMONWEALTH 

388.  Civil  War  Begins.  1642.  —  Charles,  having  made  York 
his  headquarters,  went  to  Hull,  where  war  supplies  were  stored 
and  demanded  their  surrender.  Sir  John  Hotham,  the  Parlia¬ 
mentary  commander  in  charge,  refused  to  give  them  up  or  even 
to  admit  Charles  within  the  walls.  After  causing  his  heralds  to 
proclaim  Hotham  a  traitor,  Charles  retired.  Both  he  and  Parlia¬ 
ment  began  to  collect  troops,  and  on  August  22,  1642,  Charles  set 
up  his  standard  at  Nottingham.  This  is  usually  taken  as  the 
beginning  of  the  Civil  War. 

The  contest  was  waged  by  minorities,  for  it  can  hardly  be 
doubted  that  the  majority  of  the  English  people  were  decidedly 
adverse  to  war.  That  it  was  waged  at  all  is  due  to  two  facts : 
(i)  that  the  influential  men  in  the  kingdom  were  divided  between 
the  two  parties;  (2)  and  to  their  conviction  that  only  the  sword 
could  settle  the  problems  before  the  country.  On  each  side  were 
ranged  men  of  every  class  and  position  in  the  community,  it  being 
a  common  thing  to  find  families  divided,  father  against  son, 
brother  against  brother,  and  friend  against  friend. 

As  compared  with  wars  preceding  and  following  it,  it  was 
humane,  and  by  the  side  of  the  'I'hirty  Years’  War  on  the  Continent, 
which  was  contemporary,  it  was  merciful.  Tliough  there  was  much 
plunder,  and  some  destruction  of  property,  there  was  no  laying 
waste,  and  scarcely  any  ruthless  treatment  of  the  inhabitants.* 

1  When  the  conflict  was  in  Scotland,  or  in  Ireland,  or  when  Irishmen  or  even 
Irishwomen  were  found  in  the  king's  armies,  exceptions  must  be  made  to  the  above 
statements.  Both  Scotland  and  Ireland  were  regarded  as  enemies,  and  against 
Ireland  the  Parliamentarians  felt  especially  bitter,  because  it  was  believed  that 
Charles,  if  successful,  would  restore  the  Catholic  religion,  in  return  for  their  aid. 

321 


322 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


The  majority  of  the  nobility  were  on  the  side  of  the  king.  On 
the  side  of  Parliament  were  perhaps  a  third  of  the  nobility,  a  large 
minority  of  the  gentry,  most  of  the  middle  class,  many  of  the 
yeomen,  and  the  commercial,  manufacturing,  and  burgher  classes. 
Parliament  had  control  of  the  wealth  of  the  country,  and  of  almost 
all  the  large  cities  and  seaports.  It  must  be  remembered  that  in 
those  days  the  bulk  of  the  population  was  in  southern  England.^ 
All  the  north  and  northwest  of  England  was  agricultural,  with  a 
comparatively  scattered  population. 

389.  Conditions  affecting  the  Conflict. — The  total  population 
of  England  was  about  four  and  a  half  millions,  or  not  much  more 
than  half  that  of  greater  London  at  the  present  day ;  and  of  this 
population  three  fourths  were  agricultural.  The  number  of  men 
usually  engaged  in  a  battle  was  small,  and  the  cavalry  formed  a 
very  important  part  of  the  armies,  at  times  even  one  half.  This 
was  probably  due  in  part  to  the  relatively  poor  equipment  of  the 
seventeenth  century  foot  soldier,  and  partly  to  the  unfenced  and 
unhedged  character  of  the  country,  which  allowed  cavalry  to  be 
used  to  great  advantage. 

Geographically,  it  may  be  said  that  the  lands  south  of  the 
Humber  and  east  of  the  Severn  were  on  the  side  of  Parliament, 
and  the  others  on  the  side  of  the  king.  A  line  drawn  from  Hull 
to  Gloucester  will  nearly  indicate  the  dividing  line  at  the  opening 
of  the  conflict.  Of  course,  there  were  many  exceptions,  as,  for 
instance,  Oxford  and  the  country  immediately  surrounding  it  and 
all  Cornwall  were  for  the  king,  while  Plymouth  and  the  south 
central  part  of  Yorkshire  were  for  Parliament. 

390.  Religious  Differences,  etc.  —  The  real  division  among  the 
people  was  on  account  of  religion  more  than  anything  else.  It 
was  Puritanism  that  attracted  the  upholders  of  Parliament ;  and  a 
fear  of  Puritanism,  the  love  of  episcopacy,  and  the  genuine  belief  in 

1  Thep'e  were  of  course  wealthy  nobles  and  others  on  the  side  of  the  king,  but 
the  wealth  of  the  nobility  was  largely  in  land  and  not  so  available  as  the  property 
of  the  Parliamentarians. 


THE  CIVIL  WAR  BEGINS 


323 


Dunbar 

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Pembroko 


Readinj 


BnstoV' 


H.  Thamea 


Bristol  Channel 


Patfr^  o 

Roundwaydoi 


^‘rJ'^wport 
Xorfsbrook  Castle 


Portland  Bill 


tiXOLA^D 
AND  AVALES 


TIIK  CIVIL  WARS 
OF  THE  17th  CEKTURV 


Scale  of  English  Miles 


(  /  1  AO  0  10  20  30  60 

EXPLANATION 

Parts  held  by  Charles  1.  pr:?;T^ 
^nisi^ at  the  end  of  1043 


at  the  end  of  1(>43 
Pans  held  by  Parliament 


^  Cardigan 
i)  Bay 


-50- 


from  Oreenwlch  0  LoBgltud«  East 


Longitude  n  eet 


324 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


the  divine  right  of  kings,  that  brought  supporters  to  Charles.*  The 
Catholics  were  royalists.  They  might  possibly  find  a  friend  in  the 
king ;  from  the  Puritans  they  could  look  for  nothing  but  persecution. 

The  problems  presented  to  a  patriotic  and  thoughtful  English¬ 
man  in  1642  were  difficult  of  solution,  and  none  can  be  blamed 
for  taking  either  side  in  the  conflict.  Good  and  patriotic  men 
could  be  found  on  both  sides.  It  was  a  war  of  civilians  taking 
up  arms,  for  the  most  part  unwillingly,  because  it  was  thought  to 
be  absolutely  necessary.  The  war  produced  but  two  men  of 
unusual  military  skill :  Prince  Rupert  among  the  royalists;^  and 
Oliver  Cromwell,  the  Puritan,  who  proved  himself  one  of  the 
great  commanders  of  history. 

391.  “Cavaliers  and  Roundheads,”  1642;  Edgehill,  1642. 
—  The  war  broke  out  in  the  summer  of  1642.  In  money  and 
general  resources  the  Parliament  had  the  decided  advantage  of 
the  king,  for  London,  then  as  now  the  great  financial  center  of  the 
kingdom,  was  strongly  for  Parliament.  Besides  this.  Parliament 
controlled  the  usual  methods  of  raising  money  and  held  the  sea¬ 
ports  ;  the  navy  also  was  on  its  side.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
king  had  the  best  officers  and  those  accustomed  to  the  army. 
Very  soon  the  followers  of  Charles  were  called  Cavaliers,  and  the 
Parliamentarians  were  nicknamed  by  their  opponents  Roundheads.® 

Charles  gave  the  command  of  his  forces  to  the  Earl  of  Lindsay, 
and  the  command  of  his  cavalry  to  his  nephew.  Prince  Rupert.  The 
Earl  of  Essex*  commanded  the  forces  of  Parliament.  Charles’s 

1  Cromwell  said  the  war  was  undertaken  for  "  the  maintenance  of  our  civil  lib¬ 
erties  as  men,  and  our  religious  liberties  as  Christians.”  (1644.) 

2  Prince  Rupert  (§  351  and  note)  was  the  son  of  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  James  I, 
and  Frederick,  the  Elector-Palatine.  He  was  only  twenty-three  when  he  came  to 
his  uncle's  assistance,  but  had  already  in  Germany,  during  the  Thirty  Years’  War, 
seen  much  rough  service.  He  seems  to  have  been  the  strategist  of  the  royal  side, 
but  not  to  have  been  able  to  carry  out  a  campaign.  “  He  was  one  of  the  most 
versatile  men  of  his  time,  being  an  artist,  philosopher,  experimentalist,  and  inventor, 
as  well  as.  soldier  and  sailor.” 

8  Cavaliers  meant  originally  horsemen,  then  gentlemen ;  the  cavaliers  wore  their 
hair  long,  while  the  Puritans  wore  theirs  cut  short,  hence  the  nickname,  roundhead. 

^  Essex  was  the  son  of  Robert  Devereux,  Elizabetli’s  favorite  (§  329) . 


CAVALIERS  AND  ROUNDHEADS 


325 


plan  was  to  attack  London,  but  he  was  overtaken  by  Essex,  and 
the  first  battle  of  the  war  was  fought  at  Edgehill,  not  far  from  Ban¬ 
bury  (October  23,  1642).  The  immediate  advantage  was  with 
the  king.  He  marched  to  Oxford,  and  then  toward  London.  He 
reached  Brentford,  only  a  few  miles  from  the  capital,  but  was 
afraid  to  encounter  the  London  militia  drawn  up  to  meet  him, 
and  so  retired  to  Oxford.  Charles  never  again  was  so  near  actual 
success  as  at  this  time. 

392.  Royalist  Successes.  1643.  —  During  the  early  part  of 
1643  fortune  favored  the  royalists,  but  each  party  had  learned 
valuable  lessons,  —  the  royalists,  that  the  men  opposed  to  them 
were  determined  in  their  purpose ;  and  the  Parliamentarians,  that 
unless  they  could  improve  their  cavalry  it  would  go  hard  with  them. 
No  one  was  more  convinced  of  this  than  Cromwell,  and  to  him 
more  than  to  any  one  else  is  due  the  formation  of  a  body  of  cav¬ 
alry  of  which  he  himself  said,  “  They  had  the  fear  of  God  before 
them,  and  made  some  conscience  of  what  they  did.” 

During  the  year  1643  the  Parliament  lost  ground;  and  was 
deprived  of  two  of  its  ablest  supporters,  John  Hampden,  who  was 
killed  in  a  skirmish,  and  John  Pym,  who  died  of  illness.  Bristol 
was  sacked  in  July  by  Prince  Rupert,  and  Gloucester  was  besieged. 
This  city  was  at  the  last  extremity  when  Essex  marched  to  its  relief 
and  raised  the  siege.  The  tide  in  favor  of  the  king  was  stayed. 

393.  Charles  and  the  Irish ;  Solemn  League  and  Covenant. 
1643.  —  Both  parties  now  sought  foreign  aid.  Fortunately 
for  England  the  Thirty  Years’  War  (§§  351,  373)  was  still 
engrossing  the  attention  of  the  chief  continental  powers,  and 
so  Phigland  was  spared  the  presence  of  foreign  troops  and  their 
excesses.  Charles  turned  to  Ireland  and  made  a  treaty  with  the 
Irish,  known  as  the  Cessation  of  Arms,  but  it  was  of  little  real 
advantage  to  him.  Parliament,  on  its  part,  made  overtures  to 
Scotland.  Through  the  efforts  of  Pym  an  agreement  known  as 
the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant  had  been  entered  into.  This 
bound  the  Parliament  to  endeavor  to  bring  “  the  religion  of 


326 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland  to  as  much  conformity  as 
possible,  and  to  reform  religion  according  to  the  word  of  God, 
and  the  example  of  the  best  reformed  churches.”  This  meant 
Presbyterianism.  To  the  Scots  this  matter  was  vital ;  with  them 
it  was  ”  no  Presbyterianism,  no  Scottish  army,”  and  Parliament 
had  to  yield.  There  followed  the  pulling  down  of  crosses,  break¬ 
ing  of  stained  glass  windows  in  the  churches  and  cathedrals,  tear¬ 
ing  down  of  crucifixes  and  altars,  and  defacing  of  memorial  tablets 
and  monuments. 

394.  Laud  executed,  1645;  Marston  Moor,  1644.  —  Late  in 
1644  Archbishop  Laud,  who  had  been  in  prison  since  1640 
(§  380),  was  brought  out  for  trial.  Like  Strafford,  he  was  finally 
condemned  by  an  act  which  really  was  an  act  of  attainder  though 
called  an  “ordinance.”  •  He  was  executed  in  January,  1645. 

After  the  signing  of  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  a  Scottish 
army  crossed  the  border  and  joined  the  Parliamentary  forces.  The 
armies  met  at  Marston  Moor  near  York  (July  2,  1644).  The 
royalists  were  led  by  Prince  Rupert  and  Lord  Byron ;  the  Parlia¬ 
mentarians  by  Fairfax,  the  Scots  by  the  Earl  of  Leven,  and  the 
cavalry  by  Cromwell.  Owing  to  the  steadiness  of  the  Scots, 
and  above  all  to  the  discipline  and  enthusiasm  of  Cromwell’s 
troops  of  horsemen,  the  royalists  were  routed.  From  this  time 
Cromwell  occupied  a  place  in  the  front  rank  of  the  Parliamentary 
leaders. 

395.  Self-denying  Ordinance;  the  “New  Model.”  1645. — 
Notwithstanding  the  defeat  at  Marston  Moor,  Charles  was  able  to 
gain  some  successes  in  the  south.  Cromwell  saw  that  the  army 
should  be  on  a  firmer  basis,  and  through  his  efforts  and  those  who 
sympathized  with  him.  Parliament  passed  the  Self-denying  Ordi¬ 
nance  (.April  3,  1645).  By  this,  members  of  either  house  of  Parlia¬ 
ment  were  disqualified  from  holding  positions  in  the  army.  But 
a  special  exception  was  made  in  the  case  of  Cromwell.  Indeed, 
he  could  not  be  spared  in  either  position.  Another  bill  was  passed, 
by  which  a  regular  paid  army  was  created,  with  a  severe  discipline 


PARLIAMENTARY  VICTORIES 


327 


modeled  after  the  example  of  Cromwell’s  soldiers.  This  army 
was  known  as  the  “New  Model”  and  was  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  bodies  of  troops  the  world  has  ever  seen.'  Higher 
praise  could  hardly  be  given  than  that  awarded  by  the  Cavalier 
historian  Clarendon,  who  says,  “  An  army  whose  order  and  dis¬ 
cipline,  whose  sobriety  and  manner,  whose  courage  and  success, 
made  it  famous  and  terrible  all  over  the  world.”  Under  the  new 
regulations  Fairfax  was  made  commander  in  chief  and  Cromwell 
lieutenant  general. 

396.  Naseby.  1645.  —  The  new  army  met  the  king’s  forces  at 
Naseby,  near  the  center  of  England  (June  14,  1645), 
after  a  severe  battle  routed  the  royalists.  Charles  fled,  leaving 
his  baggage,  including  his  private  correspondence,  to  be  captured 
by  the  enemy.  Perhaps  worse  for  him  than  his  defeat  were  the 
revelations  made  of  his  secret  negotiations  with  the  French,  with  the 
Duke  of  Lorraine,  and  with  the  Irish,  to  bring  troops  into  England 
to  support  him,  and  also  of  his  willingness  to  abolish  the  laws  against 
the  Catholics. 

One  after  another  the  royalist  towns  and  fortresses  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  Parliamentarians,  the  Scottish  royal  army  was 
at  length  defeated,  and  by  the  middle  of  the  year  1646  the  war 
was  practically  ended. 

397.  Charles  turns  to  the  Scots,  1646;  Negotiations. — 
Charles  concluded  to  throw  himself  on  the  mercy  of  the  Scots,  and 
in  May,  1646,  rode  into  their  camp  and  gave  himself  up ;  Doubt¬ 
less  with  the  hope  of  playing  off  the  Scots  against  the  English. 

The  Scots  took  Charles  to  Newcastle,  and  then  followed  a 
series  of  negotiations  between  Charles  and  Parliament,  and  be¬ 
tween  the  Scots  and  Parliament.  The  principal  demands  of 
Parliament  were,  that  Charles  should  (i)  abolish  episcopacy  and 
enforce  the  Covenant  (§393);  (2)  give  up  to  Parliament  the 
control  of  the  militia  for  twenty  years ;  (3)  enforce  the  laws 
against  the  Catholics.  Charles  should  have  declined  these  prop- 
1  It  is  to  the  “  New  Model”  that  England  owes  her  red-coat  uniform. 


328 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


ositions  at  once ;  but,  as  usual,  he  followed  a  policy  of  delay. 
Large  arrears  of  pay  were  due  the  Scots,  for  which  they  were 
clamorous,  and  an  arrangement  was  reached  by  which  they  agreed 
to  return  to  Scotland  on  receipt  from  Parliament  of  a  certain  sum 
of  money.  This  was  given  ;  and  in  January,  1647,  they  departed 
for  Scotland,  leaving  Charles  in  the  hands  of  agents  of  the  English 
Parliament. 

398.  Presbyterians  and  Independents  ;  the  Army.  —  There 
were  now  two  determined  parties  in  England  —  the  Presbyterians 
and  the  Independents.  The  former  had,  as  far  as  possible,  made 
England  Presbyterian,  and  their  great  object  was  to  keep  the 
control  of  the  church  in  the  hands  of  Parliament.  The  Inde¬ 
pendents,  who  were  the  successors  of  the  Brownists  (§  325)  of 
Elizabeth’s  reign,  holding  that  each  congregation  should  rule 
itself,  naturally  believed  in  toleration,  something  which  was  as 
hateful  to  the  Presbyterians  as  it  had  been  to  Laud.  The  Inde¬ 
pendents  had  no  objection  to  Presbyterianism  as  such,  provided 
there  was  toleration,  but  the  course  of  action  that  Parliament  was 
taking  alarmed  them. 

The  strength  of  the  Independents  lay  in  the  army,  a  fact  which 
the  majority  in  Parliament  did  not  sufficiently  take  into  account. 
The  war  was  at  an  end,  but  large  arrears  of  pay  were  due  the 
men,  and  Parliament  attempted  to  disband  the  army  before 
paying  it  off.  This  step  united  the  army  against  Parliament. 
Cromwell,  having  in  vain  tried  to  bring  matters  to  a  satisfactory 
conclusion,  took  the  side  of  the  army,  seeing  that  a  mutiny  which 
had  already  begun,  if  not  arrested,  would  end  in  civil  war  or 
anarchy.  He  might  be  able  to  prevent  either.  Parliament  had 
already  opened  secret  negotiations  with  Charles,  and  also  with  the 
Scots.  In  the  eyes  of  the  Presbyterians  to  be  under  the  army  and 
independency  would  be  even  worse  than  to  be  under  Charles. 

399-  Seizure  of  Charles;  the  Army  and  Parliament.  1647. 
—  Cromwell  saw  that  the  king  was  the  key  of  the  situation; 
without  him  neither  Parliament  nor  the  Scots 'could  accomplish 


THE  ARMY  AND  PARLIAMENT 


329 


much.  Charles  had  been  removed  to  Holmby  House,  near 
Northampton,  under  the  charge  of  strict  Presbyterians.  In  order 
to  forestall  any  attempt  of  the  latter  to  carry  off  Charles,  Crom¬ 
well  sent  Cornet  Joyce  with  a  body  of  soldiers  to  secure  the  royal 
prisoner  for  the  army.  Joyce,  however,  deemed  it  best  to  remove 
Charles  to  a  place  of  greater  safety.  When  asked  by  Charles  for 
his  authority,  Joyce  pointed  to  his  soldiers  and  said,  “There  is  my 
commission.” 

Cromwell  joined  the  army,  restored  order,  and  marched  toward 
London.  Parliament,  justly  frightened,  promised  the  army  the 
payment  of  all  arrears  and  the  retraction  of  sundry  offensive 
declarations.  The  army,  conscious  of  its  strength,  would  not  be 
satisfied  with  this,  but  insisted  on  the  exclusion  from  Parliament 
of  eleven  Presbyterian  leaders,  on  religious  toleration,  short  Par¬ 
liaments,  the  right  of  petition,  and  other  changes  in  the  direction 
of  democratic  government.  Parliament  tried  to  gain  time  by 
temporizing.  The  eleven  leaders  fled  from  London.  The  city 
was  Presbyterian  in  its  sympathies,  and  a  mob  broke  into  the 
building  where  Parliament  was  sitting.  Upon  this  the  army 
marched  into  the  city  and  was  master  of  the  situation. 

400.  “The  Heads  of  Proposals.”  1647.  —  Fairfax,  Cromwell, 
and  Ireton,  the  men  at  the  head  of  the  army,  were  none  of  them 
extremists ;  they  did  not  wish  a  military  rule,  and  once  more 
negotiations  were  opened  with  Charles,  who  was  now  at  Hampton 
Court.  The  chief  points  of  the  “  Heads  of  Proposals,”  as  the 
propositions  were  called,  were  religious  toleration,  certain  reforms 
in  Parliament,  control  of  the  militia  by  Parliament  for  ten  years, 
and  the  appointment  of  a  great  Council  of  State  to  rule  in  con¬ 
nection  with  the  king.  These  were  more  liberal  terms  than 
Charles  could  expect.  Convinced,  however,  that  another  war  was 
imminent,  and  sure  that  one  side  or  the  other  would  turn  to  the 
royalists,  he  again  pursued  his  old  policy  of  double  dealing  by 
carrying  on  at  the  same  time  secret  negotiations  with  the  royalist 
party  in  Scotland. 


330 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


The  conciliatory  policy  of  the  leaders  was  very  distasteful  to  a 
large  body  of  extremists  in  the  army  known  as  Levellers,  who 
boldly  accused  Cromwell  and  his  companions  of  betraying  the 
cause  of  the  people,  and  demanded  that  Charles  should  be 
“brought  to  justice.”  Charles,  aware  of  his  danger,  fled  to 
Carisbrooke  Castle  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  where  he  was  treated  as 
a  prisoner. 

401.  Risings  in  Favor  of  Charles,  1647;  “Second  Civil 
War.”  —  The  double  dealing  of  Charles  convinced  the  Inde¬ 
pendent  leaders  that  he  was  wholly  untrustworthy.  Meanwhile 
the  Scots,  who  had  entered  into  an  agreement  with  him  by  what  is 
known  as  the  “  Engagement,”  marched  from  Scotland ;  many  in 
England  were  weary  of  fighting,  had  no  liking  for  a  military  rule, 
and  felt  that  they  would  rather  trust  Charles  than  the  army. 
There  were  risings  in  Wales,  in  Kent,  in  Essex,  and  other  places. 
Thus  began  the  Second  Civil  War^  (May,  1648). 

Cromwell  marched  to  the  north  and  in  a  series  of  engagements 
completely  defeated  the  Scots.  The  rising  in  Kent  was  soon  put 
down  by  Fairfax  ;  refugees  fled  to  Colchester,  hoping  for  aid  from 
the  Scots.  After  a  siege  Colchester  fell  (August,  1648),  and  the 
citizens  and  defenders  suffered  terribly  for  their  defense.  Two  of 
the  leaders  were  shot,  and  the  soldiers  were  sent  to  the  West 
Indies,  there  to  serve  as  unwilling  laborers,  while  the  property 
of  the  citizens  was  given  to  the  besiegers. 

The  whole  country  was  at  the  mercy  of  the  army,  which  was 
almost  as  angry  with  Parliament  as  with  the  king. 

402.  Treaty  of  Newport ;  “  Pride’s  Purge  ”  j  “  The  Rump.” 
1648.  —  Meanwhile  Parliament  had  been  carrying  on  negotia¬ 
tions  with  the  king,  known  as  the  Treaty  of  Newport.'^  Charles 
temporized  as  usual ;  Parliament  continued  to  treat  with  him ; 
but  by  the  orders  of  the  army  Charles  was  taken  to  Hurst 

1  For'the  Second  Civil  War  Cromwell  held  Charles  responsible ;  it  was  in  his 
sight  an  unforgivable  sin. 

2  So  called  from  the  town  in  the  Isle  of  Wight  where  the  negotiations  were 
carried  on. 


TRIAL  OF  CHARLES  I 


331 


Castle.  On  December  5,  1648,  a  party  of  soldiers  under  the 
command  of  a  Colonel  Pride  stood  at  the  door  of  the  House  of 
Parliament  and  excluded  all  who  were  known  to  be  unfriendly  to  the 
army  or  in  favor  of  the  king.  This  action  is  known  as  “  Pride’s 
Purge.”  One  hundred  and  forty-three  members  were  thus  driven 
out.  The  remnant  left  was  called  in  contempt  the  “  Rump.” 


Carisbrooke  Castle,  Isle  of  Wight 

Tower  erected  by  Anthony  Woodville,  in  the  time  of  Edward  IV.  Gateway  erected 
by  Elizabeth,  1598. 


403.  Trial  and  Execution  of  Charles  I.  1649.  — "The  next  step 
was  to  remove  Charles.  The  remnant  of  the  House  of  Commons 
was  in  accord  with  the  army ;  but  the  few  peers  would  not  join  in 
bringing  the  king  to  trial,  so  the  Commons,  declaring  that  as 
representatives  of  the  people  they  had  all  power,  proceeded  to 
create  a  high  court  of  justice  to  try  the  king,  “  that  man  of 
blood.”  One  hundred  and  thirty-five  men  were  named  as  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  court,  but  less  than  half  of  them  were  present  when  the 
trial  began. 

Charles  was  charged  with  treason  by  bringing  on  civil  w'ar,  and 
raising  armies  “  against  the  Parliament  and  the  kingdom.”  The 
trial  began  on  January  21,  1649.  The  king  denied  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  court,  and  refused  to  plead.  The  trial  was  a  mockery ; 
Charles  was  convicted,  and  on  the  27th  his  sentence  was  read. 


332 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


The  long  document  recites  the  several  charges  and  concludes, 
“  For  all  which  treasons  and  crimes  this  Court  doth  adjudge  that 
he,  the  said  Charles  Stuart,  as  a  tyrant,  traitor,  murderer,  and 
public  enemy  to  the  good  of  the  people  of  this  nation,  shall  be 
put  to  death  by  the  severing  of  his  head  from  his  body.”  The 
sentence  was  carried  out  on  January  30,  1649,  in  front  of  White¬ 
hall  Palace,  London. 

Charles  bore  himself  with  dignity  and  calmness  during  his  trial 
and  at  the  time  of  execution ;  and  this  has  cast  a  halo  around  his 
character  which  it  does  not  deserve.  That  he  richly  merited 
punishment  can  hardly  be  questioned ;  that  he  deserved  death  is 
quite  another  matter ;  that  he  was  illegally  tried  and  condemned 
is  scarcely  open  to  debate  ;  that  most,  if  not  all,  of  the  regicides, 
as  they  were  called,  were  sincere  and  honest  in  their  belief  that 
his  death  was  a  necessity  must  be  acknowledged ;  that  his  trial 
and  execution  were  blunders  was  abundantly  proved  by  subsequent 
events  ;  that,  in  spite  of  its  illegality,  it  was  a  terrible  precedent  to 
establish  the  fact  that  kings  are  responsible  to  their  subjects  must 
be  granted. 

404.  Effect  of  the  Execution  of  Charles.  —  The  news  of  the  death 
of  Charles  was  received  by  the  vast  majority  of  Englishmen  with 
horror,  the  act  “  outraged  beyond  hope  of  reconciliation  the  two 
parties  in  the  state  who  were  strong  in  numbers  and  in  conservative 
tradition,  the  Presbyterians  and  the  Cavaliers ;  and  it  alienated 
the  great  mass  of  men  who  had  no  party  at  all.”  Had  it  not  been 
for  hopeless  differences,  -which  not  even  this  act  could  heal,  it 
would  have  gone  hard  with  the  Independents.  The  royalists 
distrusted  the  Presbyterians,  and  the  Presbyterians  distrusted  the 
royalists.  The  small  party  of  the  Levellers  distrusted  all  others ; 
their  program,  “manhood  suffrage,  annual  Parliaments,  and 
religious  liberty,”  which  seems  reasonable  enough  at  this  day,  was 
unwelcome  to  all  but  themselves. 

In  such  a  condition  of  affairs  it  was  evident  that  if  the  leaders 
of  the  army  did  not  assume  the  power,  the  result  would  be  anarchy ; 


EFFECT  OF  THE  EXECUTION 


333 


and  so  we  have  the  curious  spectacle  of  a  small  body,  professing  to 
represent  tlie  people,  entering  upon  a  career  of  despotism  upheld 
by  force.  Fortunately  for  England  and  English  institutions  the 
men  who  controlled  affairs  were  honest,  self-sacrificing,  and,  with 


Trial  of  King  Charles  I  in  Westminster  Hall 


few  exceptions,  disinterested.  During  their  official  career  there 
can  be  no  question  that  the  government  was  administered  more 
economically  and  with  a  far  greater  regard  to  tire  public  good  than 
it  had  ever  been  under  the  Stuarts  ;  nevertheless  it  was  a  kind  of 
rule  justly  hateful  to  the  patriotic  Englishman. 

405.  The  Commonwealth.  1649.  —  death  of  the  king 
was  followed  by  the  setting  up  of  a  republic.  King  and  Lords 
were  abolished,  and  the  country,  under  the  name  of  a  Com¬ 
monwealth,  was  to  be  ruled  by  a  House  of  Commons.  As  the 


334 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


members  of  the  “  Rump  ”  did  not  dare  to  risk  a  new  election, 
they  assumed  the  position  of  the  Commons  and  appointed  a 
Council  of  State  of  forty-one  men,  which  was  to  take  place  of  the 
old  Privy  Council.  A  new  judiciary  was  appointed,  and  the  gov¬ 
ernment  went  into  operation. 

406.  Dangers  confronting  the  Commonwealth.  1649. — The 
new  republic  was  beset  with  dangers.  First,  from  the  royalists, 
who  had  been  greatly  moved  by  the  king’s  death  ;  and  then  by  the 
publication  of  a  little  book  called  Eikon  Basilike,  or  the  Royal 
Image,  purporting  to  be  an  autobiography  of  Charles,  written 
during  his  last  days,  with  his  prayers  and  meditations  suggested  by 
his  approaching  death.^  This  volume  was  widely  read  and  exer¬ 
cised  an  enormous  influence.  John  Milton  tried  to  answer  it  with 
his  Eikonoclasies,  or  Image  Breaker ;  but  with  little  avail,  for 
while  Milton’s  book  appealed  to  the  understanding,  the  other 
appealed  to  the  heart. 

Perhaps  a  still  greater  danger  arose  from  the  dissatisfied 
Levellers,  who  clamored  for  a  thoroughgoing  democracy.  Crom¬ 
well  saw  that  mutiny  in  the  army  would  be  fatal  to  success,  and 
the  mutinies  which  occurred  in  several  places  were  rigorously 
crushed. 

407.  Charles  II  proclaimed  in  Ireland,  1649;  Cromwell  in 
Ireland.  1649.  —  soon  as  the  news  of  the  death  of  Charles 
reached  Ormond,  the  royalist  leader  in  Ireland,  he  proclaimed 
Prince  Charles  as  Charles  II.  The  Presbyterians  of  Ulster  (§  346) 
went  over  to  his  side,  and  Prince  Rupert  with  several  ships  held 
the  south  of  the  island.  Affairs  in  Ireland  looked  desperate  for 
the  Commonwealth.  The  Council  of  State  offered  the  command 
to  Cromwell.  He  landed  at  Dublin  in  August,  1649,  ^^h  a  small 
army  and  began  a  course  of  conduct  which,  more  than  any  other 
of  his  career,  has  laid  him  open  to  severe  criticism.  Everywhere 

*  This'book  was  almost  universally  believed  at  the  time  to  have  been  written  by 
Charles  I ;  it  has  been  proved  since  to  have  been  the  work  of  Dr.  John  Gauden,  a 
clergyman,  after  the  Restoration  made  Bishop  of  Worcester. 


CROMWELL  IN  IRELAND 


335 


the  well-trained  men  of  Cromwell’s  army  were  successful.  Drogh¬ 
eda  was  taken  a  few  weeks  after  his  landing,  and  then  Wexford. 
In  each  case  the  garrison  had  refused  to  surrender,  the  towns  had 
been  carried  by  assault,  and  each  garrison,  with  the  exception 
of  a  few  men  sent  to  the  West  Indies,  had  been  slaughtered 
without  mercy.^  Cromwell  justified  this  terrible  severity,  first  by 
the  laws  of  war,  which  allowed  victors  to  put  to  death  those  who 
refused  to  surrender,  and  secondly,  as  a  'punishment  for  the 
“innocent  blood  which  had  been  shed”  in  the  rebellion  of  1641 
(§  383)  •  Though  successful  in  striking  terror  into  the  hearts  of 
his  opponents,  these  massacres  remain  a  sad  blot  on  the  memory 
of  Cromwell. 

408.  Subjection  of  Ireland.  1652.  —  By  the  close  of  1649  all 
the  coast  of  Ireland,  except  the  single  town  of  Waterford,  was  in 
Cromwell’s  hands.  But  a  new  danger  menaced  the  Commonwealth 
from  Scotland,  and  in  May,  1650,  Cromwell  was  recalled  to 
England.  He  left  his  lieutenants  to  complete  the  conquest  of 
Ireland.  This  was  accomplished  by  the  middle  of  1652.  It  was 
subdued  as  it  had  never  been  before,  but  it  “  was  devastated  from 
end  to  end,  and  a  third  of  its  population  had  perished  during  the 
struggle.” 

The  Irish  settlement  after  the  conquest  resembled  Strafford’s 
plan  (§  372).  Cromwell’s  idea  was  confiscation  of  the  land  of 
Irish  owners  who  had  taken  part  in  the  rebellion;*  colonization 
by  English  Protestants ;  conversion  of  the  Irish  Catholics ;  and 
the  impartial  administration  of  justice.  In  religious  matters  the 
Irish  were  little  better  off  than  they  had  been,  for  while  liberty  of 
conscience  was  allowed,  and  no  one  was  compelled  to  attend 
Protestant  places  of  worship,  the  outward  exercise  of  Catholicism 
was  strictly  forbidden,  and  under  the  Commonwealth  and  the 
Protector,  “  priests  were  hunted  down,  and  either  imprisoned  or 

>  At  Drogheda  2800  men  were  put  to  the  sword,  and  at  Wexford  1500,  as  well  as 
every  priest  wlio  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  victors. 

2  It  is  estimated  that  about  two  thirds  of  the  land  of  Ireland  passed  to  new 
owners. 


336 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


exiled.”  With  all  his  ability  and  greatness  Cromwell  was  not  able 
to  see  that  such  treatment  would  inevitably  inspire  a  hatred  of 
Protestants  and  of  English  rule.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  it 
was  the  treatment  in  regard  to  religious  matters  which  aroused  the 
lasting  resentment  far  more  than  any  political  tyranny. 

409.  Scotland.  Dunbar.  1650.  —  The  Presbyterians  in  Scotland 
had  no  sympathy  with  the  Independents,  and  on  receipt  of  the 
news  of  Charles’s  death  had  proclaimed  his  son  as  Charles  II, 
King  of  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland.  The  Scottish  envoys  at 
London  demanded  that  “  upon  just  satisfaction  given  to  both 
kingdoms  ”  he  should  be  given  the  crown.  Parliament  refused  to 
entertain  any  such  proposition  and  expelled  the  envoys  from 
England.  This  was  war.  It  was,  however,  necessary  for  Charles 
II  and  the  Scots  to  come  to  some  sort  of  an  agreement.  The 
Scots  insisted  that  Charles  should  subscribe  to  the  Covenant  and 
force  Presbyterianism  upon  England  and  Ireland.  Against  these 
conditions  he  strove  for  some  time,  but  finally  yielded.  He  came 
to  Scotland  and  was  crowned  at  Scone,  January,  1C51. 

Parliament  had  voted  that  both  Cromwell  and  Fairfax  should 
command  the  army  against  the  Scots,  but  Fairfax  refused  to  take 
the  field  against  his  old  allies  and  resigned  his  position,  and  Crom¬ 
well  became  commander  in  chief.  The  army  entered  Scotland  in 
July,  1650;  the  first  few  weeks  were  discouraging,  but  at  Dunbar, 
September  3,  1650,  Cromwell  gained  one  of  his  greatest  victories 
—  “  three  thousand  men  fell  in  the  battle  and  ten  thousand  were 
taken  prisoners.”  Though  this  victory  gave  him  the  southern 
part  of  Scotland,  the  northern  still  held  out  for  Charles. 

410.  Defeat  of  Charles  II  at  Worcester.  1651.  —  The  disaster 
at  Dunbar  tended  to  unite  the  royalists  and  Presbyterians  in 
Scotland  and  inspired  a  hope  that  a  similar  union  might  be 
brought  about  in  England.  So  Charles’s  army,  under  David 
Leslie,  hastened  southward,  Charles  accompanying  it.  England, 
however,  was  so  tired  of  war  that  few  persons  joined  the  royal 
standard.  “  Englishmen  disliked  the  government  much,  but  they 


CHARLES  II  DEP'EATED  AT  WORCESTER 


337 


disliked  the  Scots  more.”  Cromwell,  with  part  of  his  army, 
hastened  after  Leslie  and  Charles,  overtook  them  at  Worcester, 
and  compelled  them  to  fight  a  much  larger  force  than  their  own, 
September  3,  1651,  the  anniversary  of  Dunbar.  The  result  was  a 
rout;  only  a  remnant  of  the  Scots  was  able  to  reach  Scotland. 


Great  Friar’s  Street,  Worcester 
After  an  old  print 


Charles,  after  many  hairbreadth  and  romantic  escapes,  managed  to 
reach  France.^ 

411.  Union  of  England  and  Scotland. — General  Monk,  who 
had  been  left  in  charge  by  Cromwell,  reduced  Scotland  to  submis¬ 
sion  (1652),  and  like  Ireland  it  was  given  a  new  form  of  govern¬ 
ment.  The  Scottish  Parliament  was  abolished  j  trade  was  made 
free  between  Kngland  and  Scotland ;  toleration  for  all  Non¬ 
conformists  except  Catholics  was  established ;  and  the  judicial 
system  was  reformed.  Scotland  was  given  thirty  members  of 
Parliament  at  Westminster,  while  the  country  was  governed  by  a 
council  of  nine  (after  1655),  of  whom  two  were  Scots.  Under 

1 "  Though  the  Englishmen  would  not  fight  for  Charles,  they  would  not  betray 
him,  and  of  the  scores  he  trusted  not  one  proved  false." 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


their  rule  Scotland  had  such  order  and  safety  as  had  not  been 
known  befored  But  with  few  exceptions  the  Scots  hated  the 
union  with  England. 

When  the  news  of  the  victory  at  Worcester  reached  Parliament, 
it  voted  Cromwell  a  large  income  and  gave  him  Hampton  Court 
for  a  residence. 

412.  Foreign  Affairs  ;  Holland.  —  The  government  could  now 
turn  its  attention  to  enemies  abroad,  where  the  Commonwealth 
was  not  regarded  with  favor.  As  almost  all  the  continental  gov¬ 
ernments  were  monarchical,  the  execution  of  Charles  was  to  them 
a  blow  of  deep  significance.  Besides  this  the  courts  of  Europe 
were  full  of  English  royalist  refugees.  The  ambassadors  of  the 
Commonwealth  had  been  received  with  coolness  at  the  various 
courts  to  which  they  had  been  sent,  and  two  had  been  killed  by 
royalists. 

It  would  seem  that  England  and  Holland,  both  being  republics, 
should  have  been  at  least  friendly ;  but  William  II,  the  stadtholder, 
had  married  Mary,  a  daughter  of  Charles  I,  and  so  was  friendly  to 
the  royalists.  He,  however,  died  in  October,  1650;  the  office 
of  stadtholder  was  abolished,  and  the  United  Netherlands  became 
still  more  democratic.  But  the  strong  commercial  rivalry  growing 
up  between  the  Dutch  and  the  English  kept  the  countries  apart. 
By  1650  the  Dutch  controlled  the  carrying  trade  of  Europe  and 
had  grown  rich.  They  had  the  best  ships  and  sailors  in  the 
world.  Wherever  the  English  ships  went,  —  whether  in  the  East 
or  West  Indies,  in  the  Baltic  or  the  North  seas,  and  even  in 
.America,  —  they  found  the  Dutch,  and  political  and  commercial 
disputes  were  constantly  arising. 

413.  Navigation  Act,  1651;  War  with  Holland,  1652-1654. 
—  These  disputes  and  the  growth  of  the  Dutch  trade  led  to  the 
passage  by  Parliament  of  the  famous  Navigation  .Act  of  October, 
1651.  ,  By  this  act  it  was  forbidden  to  bring  into  England  any 

1  Scotland  was  treated  much  more  leniently  than  Ireland.  There  was  no  general 
confiscation  of  the  land,  the  penalty  of  forfeiture  being  imposed  on  only  a  few. 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS 


339 


goods  from  any  ports  in  Asia,  Africa,  or  America,  except  in  vessels 
built  in  England,  owned  by  Englishmen,  and  manned  by  English 
sailors.  A  similar  regulation  was  made  for  goods  exported  from 
England.  From  any  European  country  goods  could  be  carried 
only  in  vessels  owned  in  that  country,  or  in  English  vessels.  As 
an  enforcement  of  the  Navigation  Act  would  deprive  the  Dutch 
of  all  the  profitable  carrying  trade  to  England  except  in  the  few 
articles  of  Dutch  manufacture,  they  protested,  but  without  avail. 

Besides  this  England  claimed  that  the  sovereignty  of  the  seas 
surrounding  Britain  belonged  to  her,  and  that  homage  should  be 
given  her  for  these ;  she  claimed  certain  fishing  rights  in  the 
North  Sea;  also  the  right  to  seize  goods  of  an  enemy  even  if 
found  on  a  neutral  ship.  All  these  claims  the  Dutch  denied,  and, 
as  an  agreement  could  not  be  reached,  war  broke  out  between  the 
English  and  the  Dutch  (1652).  The  war  was  wholly  a  naval  one. 
The  Dutch  had  many  merchantmen  ;  and  the  English  had  a  larger 
navy.  The  Dutch  had,  however,  the  first  naval  captain  of  his  day 
in  Van  Tromp.  The  English  found  a  great  captain  in  Robert 
Blake.^  Good  soldiers  at  that  time  were  supposed  to  be  good  at 
sea  also,  and  Blake,  who  had  distinguished  himself  in  the  Civil 
War,  had  in  1649  been  appointed  Admiral  and  General  at  Sea. 
He  had  sailed  against  Prince  Rupert,  and  had  done  good  service  in 
the  Mediterranean  and  elsewhere,  and  was  now  chosen  to  meet 
Van  Tromp.  Many  sea  fights  took  place  with  varying  fortunes 
until  early  in  1653,  when  Blake  and  his  companion.  Monk, 
another  soldier  turned  sailor,  defeated  Van  Tromp  off  Portland 
Bill.  Blake  won  another  victory  in  June,  1653,  and  in  July  Monk 
defeated  the  Dutch  off  the  Texel,  and  Van  Tromp  was  killed. 
The  next  year  (1654)  peace  was  made,  the  Dutch  agreeing  to  the 
Navigation  Act  and  some  other  of  the  English  demands.  The 
result  of  the  war  was  to  remove  any  danger  of  interference  in  the 

1  Blake,  born  in  1599,  was  fifty  when  he  took  his  first  naval  command.  How 
much  training  he  had  is  not  known.  It  is  possible  that  as  a  young  man  he  may 
have  made  some  voyages,  though  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  it  was  as  a  sailor 

(§  424). 


340 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


domestic  affairs  of  England  by  foreign  powers,  and  greatly  to 
increase  the  respect  paid  to  the  Commonwealth. 

414.  Expulsion  of  “The  Rump.”  1653.  —  Meanwhile  the 
“Rump”  (§  402)  had  become  more  and  more  unpopular. 
Funds  had  been  raised  by  compelling  royalists  to  pay  large  sums 
of  money  in  order  to  retain  their  estates.  More  than  this,  all 
measures  of  reform  were  stopped,  a  course  which  greatly  angered 
the  army.  The  “  Rump,”  regardless  of  the  remonstrances  of  the 
army,  proceeded  to  form  a  plan  of  government  ingeniously  con¬ 
trived  to  retain  the  power  in  the  hands  of  the  “  Rump  ”  itself. 

When  Cromwell  learned  that  Parliament  was  about  to  pass  an 
act  with  this  end  in  view,  he  went  to  the  House  (.April  20,  1653) 
“  dressed  as  he  was,  not  like  a  general  or  a  soldier,  but  like  an 
ordinary  citizen,  ‘  clad  in  plain  black  clothes  with  grey  worsted 
stockings,’  and. sat  as  he  used  to  do  in  an  ordinary  place.”  When 
the  speaker  was  about  to  put  the  question,  Cromwell  rose  and 
spoke,  strongly  rebuking  the  members  for  their  selfish  conduct, 
and  ended  by  sayihg,  “  You  are  no  Parliament ;  I  say  you  are 
no  Parliament.  I  will  put  an  end  to  your  sitting.”  “Call  them 
in,”  he  said  to  one  of  his  friends  who  sat  near  him  ;  and  presently 
twenty  or  thirty  of  Cromwell’s  own  regiment  came  in  and  drove 
out  the  members.  Cromwell  ordered  the  door  to  be  locked,  and 
then  went  off.  Henceforth  force  was  to  rule.  Evil  as  force  was, 
it  was  at  least  something  real  and  not  a  pretense. 

It  was  a  bloodless  revolution.  “  There  were  no  resignations,  no 
arrests,  and  no  further  force.  The  fighting  men  approved,  the 
officials  obeyed,  and  the  nation  acquiesced.” 

415.  The  “Barebones  Parliament.”  1653.  —  Cromwell,  not 
fond  of  force,  wished  to  set  up  a  government  with  at  least  some 
show  of  being  representative.  But  not  daring  to  order  a  new 
election,  he  and  his  fellow  army  officers  summoned  an  assembly, 
nominated  by  themselves,  consisting  of  one  hundred  and  forty 
men  from  different  parts  of  England,  and  a  few  from  Scotland  and 
Ireland.  This  body  was  called  in  ridicule  “  Praise  God  Bare- 


THE  “BAREBONES  PARLIAMENT”  34 1 

bones '  Parliament  ”  after  a  man  of  that  name  who  represented  in 
it  the  City  of  London.  Another  name  by  which  it  is  known  is  the 
“  Little  Parliament,”  but  strictly  speaking,  it  was  no  Parliament  at 
all.  As  might  be  expected,  it  was  one  of  the  most  unmanageable 
and  impracticable  sets  of  men  ever  gathered  in  an  assembly.  The 


Cromwell  dissolving  the  Long  Parliament 

more  moderate  men  in  the  assembly  shrank  from  the  wilder  acts 
and  plans  of  their  fellow-members,  and  by  a  trick,  passed  a  bill 
dissolving  the  body  and  resigning  its  power  into  the  hands  of 
Cromwell  (December  12,  1653). 

416.  “The  Instrument  of  Government,”  1653;  Cromwell 
“Protector.”  —  The  officers  of  the  army  now  tried  their  hand  and 

1  His  name  is  given  as  Barbon,  Barebone,  and  Barebones.  He  was  a  leather 
seller.  He  survived  all  the  dangers  of  the  Civil  War  and  Restoration,  and  died  in 
1679. 


342 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


proposed  “  The  Instrument  of  Government.”  By  this  it  was  pro¬ 
vided  that  the  government  of  the  Commonwealth  of  England, 
Scotland,  and  Ireland  should  be  vested  in  one  person  styled  the 
Lord  Protector,  appointed  for  life,  and  in  a  Parliament  which  should 
meet  once  in  three  years.  The  power  of  the  Protector  was  limited 
by  a  Council  of  State.  The  scheme  was  really  a  limited  monarchy 
restricted  by  a  written  constitution.'  Though  distasteful  to  the 
extremists,  it  was  acceptable  to  the  army  and  to  most  persons. 
Before  the  Parliament  should  meet  the  Protector  was  authorized 
to  pass  “ordinances.”  Of  this  permission  Cromwell,  who  was  of 
course  appointed  Protector,  took  liberal  advantage,  and  for  the 
most  part  his  laws  were  wise  and  all  in  the  direction  of  improving 
the  morals  and  order  of  the  Commonwealth. 

417.  Oliver  Cromwell.  1599-1658.  —  However  opinions  may 
differ  concerning  Cromwell’s  personal  aims  and  conduct,  in  the 
long  list  of  great  Englishmen  he  must  always  stand  in  the  front 
rank.  He  was  born  in  1599  of  a  good  family  in  Huntingdonshire.^ 
He  attended  the  Huntingdon  Grammar  School  and  at  seventeen 
went  to  Sidney  Sussex  College,  Cambridge.  How  long  he  re¬ 
mained  at  the  university  is  not  known,  but  he  was  married  at  the 
age  of  twenty-one  and  soon  after  set  up  as  a  country  gentleman. 
In  1628  he  was  elected  to  represent  Huntingdon  in  the  third 
Parliament  (§  361)  of  Charles  I.  He  early  took  the  side  of  the 
people  in  his  own  neighborhood  and  became  popular  and 
influential  in  the  eastern  counties.  Before  he  was  thirty  he  was 
“a  professor  of  religion”  and  was  known  as  a  zealous  Puritan. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Short  Parliament  (§  379)  and  also  of 
the  Long  Parliament  (§  380).  In  person  he  was  slightly  under 
six  feet,  strong  and  well  made ;  his  light  brown  hair  he  wore 

1  The  title  was  taken  from  that  of  the  Protector  Somerset  in  the  time  of  Edward 
VI  (see  §  263).  Cromwell  was  more  nearly  a  regent  than  anything  else.  The 
office  was  not  to  be  hereditary. 

2  He  was  descended  from  the  sister  of  Thomas  Cromwell  (§  236), the  great  min¬ 
ister  of  Henry  VIII.  Her  son  Henry  took  the  name  of  Cromwell.  From  Henry 
Cromwell,  also,  John  Hampden  was  descended. 


OLIVER  CROMWELL 


343 


long,  allowing  it  to  reach  to  his  shoulders ;  his  eyes  were  blue  or 
gray,  and  his  eyebrows  heavy ;  his  nose  was  large,  and  likewise  his 
mouth,  which  was  firm-set.  He  was  dignified  in  his  bearing,  and 
often  affable.  In  his  youth  he  was  athletic  and  he  retained  his 
love  of  sport  all  his  life  ;  he  was  fond  of  riding,  hunting,  hawking, 
playing  bowls,  and  other 
exercises.  He  was  de¬ 
voted  to  music  and  when 
at  Hampton  Court  had 
two  organs,  which  were 
.  frequently  brought  into 
use.  He  valued  art  and 
learning  and  encouraged 
them. 

His  greatest  personal 
characteristic  was  his  reli¬ 
gious  faith.  His  sense 
of  personal  responsibility 
was  profound,  and  in  all 
his  actions  he  moved,  as 
he  believed,  under  divine 

guidance.  Not  to  recognize  this  fact  is  to  misunderstand  his  life. 
The  former  country  squire,  who  had  known  comparatively  little  of 
active  public  life  until  he  was  more  than  forty,  was  now  at  the  age 
of  fifty-four  the  ruler  of  England.  He  had  a  keen  sense  of  his 
duties  and  responsibilities,  and,  though  a  firm  believer  in  law,  in  a 
constitutional  government,  and  in  the  rights  of  the  people,  it  was 
his  misfortune  to  feel  compelled  to  wield  absolute  power. 

418.  England  in  1654. — There  can  be  scarcely  a  doubt  that 
some  such  rule  as  that  of  Cromwell  was  needed  in  England  in 
1654.  “  He  had  with  him  the  Puritan  rank  and  file,  and  the 

great  majority  of  the  superior  officers,  .  .  .  the  men  of  business ; 
all  moderate  men  of  every  party  who  desired  peace,  order  and 
good  government ;  the  great  cities,  the  army  and  navy.” 


Oliver  Cromwell 


344 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


His  opposers  were  not  only  the  Cavaliers,  for  against  him  he  had 
the  Republicans,  to  whom  the  revolution  meant  republican  equality 
more  than  liberty,  and  legal  right  even  more  than  order  and  pros¬ 
perity.  Besides  these  were  the  “  Sectaries,”  men  of  every  shade 
of  religious  belief  and  fanaticism,  who  sprang  up  as  the  result  of 
the  religious  conflicts  of  the  time. 

The  weakness  of  the  Instrument  (§  416)  was  that  it  provided  no 
means,  such  as  the  American  Supreme  Court,  for  deciding  doubt¬ 
ful  points,  nor  was  there  any  provision  for  amendment. 

419.  First  Protectorate  Parliament.  1654. — The  first  Protec¬ 
torate  Parliament  met  in  September,  1654.  Cromwell  was  bitterly 
disappointed  with  its  action.  Its  first  work  was  to  call  in  question 
the  authority  by  which  the  Instrument  of  Government  had  been 
drawn  up,  and  then  it  proceeded  to  evolve  a  scheme  of  its  own,  in 
which  the  greater  part  of  the  power  would  be  in  the  hands  of 
Parliament. 

This  was  something  which  Cromwell  would  not  endure,  for  he 
was  determined  that,  if  he  could  prevent  it,  there  should  not  be 
the  rule  of  an  irresponsible  Parliament.  Parliament,  on  its  part, 
was  equally  determined  that  there  should  not  be  military  rule  and 
a  despotism.  Cromwell  was  in  a  grave  dilemma,  and  chose  what 
seemed  to  him  the  lesser  evil.  As  soon  as  five  months  had 
elapsed  he  dissolved  the  Parliament  and  entered  upon  autocratic 
rule,  though,  so  far  as  possible,  governing  according  to  the  Instru¬ 
ment  of  Government. 

420.  The  Major  Generals;  Military  Rule.  1655.  —  Plots 
against  his  life  became  frequent,  Ireland  and  Scotland  were  restive, 
and  there  were  risings  of  Cavaliers,  and  also  of  Levellers.  Crom¬ 
well  now  divided  the  country  into  ten  military  districts,  over  each 
one  of  which  he  set  a  major  general  with  practically  arbitrary 
powers.  This  was  pure  military  rule,  which  only  the  unsettled 
state  of  affairs  could  possibly  justify.  To  maintain  these  officers 
and  their  men  he  taxed  the  Cavaliers,  on  the  ground  that  it  was 
due  to  them  that  the  necessity  existed.  This  policy,  while  it  cer- 


FIRST  PROTECTORATE  PARLIAMENT 


345 


tainly  insured  good  order  and  personal  safety,  angered  the 
royalists  beyond  remedy,  and  also  forced  upon  the  whole  country 
the  fact  that  his  government  was  a  military  despotism.  Men  now 
began  to  refuse  to  pay  some  of  the  taxes  imposed,  on  the  ground 
that  they  were  not  levied  by  Parliament. 

421.  Cromwell’s  Religious  Policy.  —  Cromwell’s  treatment  of 
the  religious  difficulties  in  the  country  is  greatly  to  his  credit. 
Under  his  rule  there  was  greater  tolerance  and  religious  liberty 
than  had  ever  been  known  in  England.  The  chief  exceptions 
were  “  Papists  ”  and  “  Prelatists,”  as  the  Puritans  called  them,  and 
these  were  excepted  chiefly  on  political  grounds,  for  they  were  in¬ 
evitably  hostile  to  the  government.  But  even  the  “  Prelatists  ”  or 
Episcopalians  were  treated  with  leniency,  and  congregations  meet¬ 
ing  in  private  were  not  molested.  The  Catholics  also,  though 
not  allowed  to  celebrate  their  worship  publicly,  were  not  in  other 
respects  disturbed,  and  fared  better  than  they  had  at  the  hands  of 
the  Parliaments  of  Charles  I  or  the  Commonwealth.  The  Jews, 
too,  who  had  been  proscribed  since  the  time  of  Edward  I  (1290) 
(§  127),  while  not  legally  tolerated,  were  allowed  to  reside  in 
England  and  worship  in  private  houses. 

The  result  of  Cromwell’s  policy  was  the  rise  of  many  sects,  for 
it  was  a  period  of  religious  and  intellectual  stirring  among  the 
English  common  people.  Under  no  other  regime  for  fifty  years 
before  or  after  would  such  a  result  have  been  possible.  That 
this  toleration  temporarily  fell  with  the  Protectorate  is  due  to  the 
fact  that  the  toleration  was  only  partial,  for  political  rights  were 
confined  to  Puritans  and  those  who  in  essentials  agreed  with  them. 
The  non-religious  people  were  alienated  by  the  severe  rule  of  the 
major  generals,  the  restrictions  upon  amusements,  arbitrary  ar¬ 
rests,  imprisonments,  deprivation  of  political  rights,  and  other  fea¬ 
tures  of  despotic  rule ;  while  the  smaller  but  more  influential  class 
of  landholders  was  even  more  alienated  by  what  they  had  to 
undergo.  The  result  was  that  Puritanism  began  to  mean  to  a 
large  and  increasing  class  almost  everything  hateful.  It  was  poetic 


346 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


justice  that  when  the  Puritans  fell,  their  successors  should  treat 
them  to  a  dose  of  their  own  medicine. 

422.  Cromwell’s  Foreign  Policy.  —  Meanwhile  Cromwell’s 
foreign  policy  prospered.  He  had  a  very  clear  conception  of  what 
he  wanted  :  (i)  to  prevent  the  restoration  of  the  Stuarts  by  foreign 
aid  ;  (2)  to  form  a  league  of  all  the  Protestant  nations  in  Europe  ; 
(3)  to  foster  and  increase  English  commerce  so  that  it  would 
become  supreme.  The  military  and  naval  success  of  the  Common¬ 
wealth  prevented  the  likelihood  of  interference  with  the  domestic 
concerns  of  England.  But  to  unite  the  nations  on  a  religious 
basis  alone  he  found  was  impracticable. 

At  the  Peace  of  Westphalia  (1648)  France,  under  Louis  XIV, 
was  the  strongest  power  in  Europe.  Her  supremacy  was  disputed 
only  by  Spain.  After  the  peace  with  the  Dutch  (1654)  (§  413) 
Spain  and  France  alike  were  desirous  of  an  alliance  with  England. 
Cromwell  wavered  for  a  time.  From  Spain  he  asked  among  other 
things  toleration  for  English  merchants  in  Spanish  ports  and  free¬ 
dom  of  trade  for  English  traders  in  the  West  Indies.  These  privi¬ 
leges  Spain  declined  to  grant.  Cromwell  turned  to  France,  for  in 
that  day  it  was  not  thought  advisable,  perhaps  not  possible,  to 
remain  neutral. 

423.  The  Vaudois.  1656.  —  Meanwhile  the  Duke  of  Savoy 
was  striving  by  force  of  arms  and  persecutions  to  compel  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Vaudois  valleys,  whose  religion  long  antedated 
the  Reformation,  to  become  Catholics.  In  this  effort  terrible 
outrages  had  been  committed,  the  news  of  which  deeply  stirred 
the  Protestants  of  England.  Cromwell  informed  Cardinal  Mazarin, 
the  French  Minister  of  State,  that  until  this  persecution  was 
stopped  no  treaty  would  be  concluded  with  France.  Mazarin 
was  so  anxious  for  the  English  alliance  that  he  compelled  the 
Duke  of  Savoy  to  end  the  persecution  and  grant  the  Vaudois 
liberty,  of  worship. 

424.  Naval  Victories  ;  Penn  and  Venables ;  Blake.  1654-1658. 
—  In  the  meantime  Cromwell  had  sent  an  expedition  under  Admiral 


CROMWELL’S  FOREIGN  AND  COLONIAL  POLICY  347 


Sir  William  Penn^  and  Robert  Venables,  a  successful  soldier, 
to  the  West  Indies  (1654)  to  seize  the  island  of  Hispaniola,  and 
to  injure  the  Spanish  interests  in  the  West  Indies  as  much  as 
possible.  The  attack  on  Hispaniola  was  a  failure,  but  Jamaica 
was  captured  and  has  since  remained  a  part  of  the  British  Empire. 
An  expedition  to  the  Mediterranean  under 
Admiral  Blake  (§413)  was  a  brilliant  success. 

A  treaty  with  France  was  signed  (1655) 
and  war  with  Spain  broke  out  in  earnest. 

Blake  captured  a  Spanish  fleet  with  a  large 
amount  of  treasure  on  board,  and  also  de¬ 
stroyed  a  large  Spanish  fleet  off  Teneriffe, 
but  died  at  sea  on  the  way  home.  The 
same  year  English  troops  joined  the  French 
forces  and  later  gained  a  victory  over  the 
Spaniards  (June  4,  1658)  near  Dunkirk, 
which  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  allies  and 
was  given  to  England. 

425.  Cromwell’s  Colonial  Policy.  — 

Cromwell  was  appointed  one  of  the 
commissioners  of  plantations  early  in  his  political  career,  and  so 
was  brought  very  soon  into  comparatively  close  touch  with 
colonial  affairs.  At  one  time  he  seems  to  have  thought  about 
emigrating  himself.  His  colonial  policy  was  successful,  and  his 
influence  was  enduring.  He  desired  an  ever-increasing  empire 
bound  to  the  mother  country  by  strong  ties  and  yet  with  a  reason¬ 
able  freedom  of  its  own.  It  was  in  fact  a  plan  closely  resembling 
the  present  policy  of  Great  Britain. 

With  the  New  England  colonies  settled  by  Puritans  and  Inde¬ 
pendents  he  was  in  close  sympathy,  and  throughout  his  rule  he 
cultivated  their  friendship.  During  the  time  of  the  Civil  War  the 
northern  colonies  in  America  were  adherents  of  the  Puritans,  and 

1  Admiral  Penn  was  the  father  of  the  still  more  celebrated  William  Penn,  the 
founder  of  Pennsylvania. 


Flag  of  thf.  Common¬ 
wealth 


348 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


the  southern  followers  of  the  king,  and  at  its  close  many  Cavalier 
refugees  fled  to  Virginia  and  the  West  Indies.  On  the  death  of 
Charles  I,  Governor  Berkeley  of  Virginia  proclaimed  Charles  II, 
and  in  Barbados  there  was  practically  rebellion  against  the  Com¬ 
monwealth.  But  the  government  in  England  sent  an  expedition 
to  compel  the  allegiance  of  the  refractory  provinces. 

426.  Colonization  Schemes.  —  The  passage  of  the  Navigation 
Act  (1651)  (§  413)  was  a  severe  blow  to  colonial  commerce  and 
was  unpopular  everywliere,  but  nevertheless  at  the  time  it  tended 
to  increase  the  authority  of  the  mother  country,  and  though  Crom¬ 
well  would  not  give  up  the  act,  certain  small  concessions  were 
made  to  the  colonies.  So  far  as  their  internal  affairs  were  con¬ 
cerned  Cromwell  interfered  very  little  if  at  all. 

The  expedition  of  Penn  and  Venables  (§  424)  was  part  of  the 
same  colonial  plan,  and  though  Cromwell  was  chagrined  at  the 
apparent  failure  of  that  scheme  and  both  Penn  and  Venables  were 
sent  for  a  short  time  to  the  Tower,  the  expedition  laid  the  founda¬ 
tion  of  England’s  influence  in  the  West  Indies  which  has  never 
been  lost.  Though  Jamaica  was  held  of  small  account,  Cromwell 
made  great  efforts  to  colonize  it  with  Englishmen,  and  offered 
great  inducements  to  New  Englanders  to  remove  there.  He  him¬ 
self  said  that  “  an  opportunity  is  offered  for  their  enlargement  and 
removing  them  out  of  a  barren  country  into  a  land  of  plenty.” 
But  the  sturdy  New  Englanders  preferred  their  “barren  country” 
to  an  unknown  tropical  island  and  a  climate  which  they  dreaded. 

427.  The  Second  Protectorate;  Parliament,  1656;  Humble 
Petition  and  Advice,  1657.  —  The  continental  policy  required 
money,  and  Cromwell,  not  only  because  he  wished  more  money, 
but  also  from  his  inherent  love  of  constitutional  methods,  felt 
it  needful  to  call  a  second  Parliament  (1656),  but,  as  before,  no 
one  was  allowed  to  be  seated  who  was  not  supposed  to  be  in 
general  sympathy  with  the  government.  This  body  was  accom¬ 
modating.  Cromwell  withdrew  his  major  generals  (§  420),  and 
the  House  voted  him  money.  A  plot  against  Cromwell  was  discov- 


DEATH  OF  CROMWELL 


349 


ered,  and  Parliament,  weary  of  the  constant  troubles,  thought  that 
a  nearer  return  to  the  old  constitution  would  be  helpful.  A  new 
scheme  of  government  was  devised,  called  the  “  Humble  Petition 
and  Advice,”  which  provided  for  two  houses  of  Parliament,  a  re¬ 
vision  of  the  powers  of  the  chief  executive,  and  greater  liberality  in 
the  matter  of  religion.  Cromwell  was  asked  to  take  the  title  of  king, 
with  the  power  of  naming  his  successor.  The  army  was  opposed  to 
the  name  of  king,  or  it  is  likely  that  Cromwell  would  have  assumed  it. 
He  kept  the  title  of  Lord  Protector,  but  was  king  except  in  name. 

428.  Parliament  dissolved,  1658;  Death  of  Cromwell,  1658. — 
In  accordance  with  the  new  constitution  he  appointed  a  new  House 
of  Lords,  and  the  new  government  went  into  operation.  It  was 
not  a  success  ;  the  two  Houses  quarreled  with  each  other,  the  mem¬ 
bers  excluded  by  Cromwell  were  seated,  and  there  was  a  majority 
hostile  to  him.  At  last  (February  4,  1658)  Cromwell,  grievously 
disappointed,  dissolved  the  Parliament  with  sad  and  bitter  words. 

Cromwell  was  now  beginning  to  break  down  both  in  health  and 
spirits.  In  August  he  became  ill  and  on  September  3,  1658,  the 
anniversary  of  his  great  victories  of  Dunbar  (§  409)  and  Worcester 
(§  410),  he  died.  His  body,  after  lying  in  state,  was  privately 
buried  in  the  Chapel  of  Henry  VH  in  Westminster  Abbey.  He 
was  given  a  magnificent  public  funeral. 

For  many  years  after  Cromwell’s  death  he  was  regarded  by 
many  almost  with  detestation,  but  opinion  has  changed  in  a 
remarkable  degree.  Though  his  shortcomings  are  recognized,  his 
great  ability  is  universally  admitted,  and  it  is  acknowledged  by 
most  persons  that  “  it  was  his  design  to  do  good  in  the  main.” 
Cromwell’s  error,  it  would  seem,  was  the  attempt  to  govern  Eng¬ 
land  as  the  representative  of  a  minority.  He  held  his  position 
only  because  of  his  ability.  It  was  inevitable  that  such  a  course 
should  end  in  despotism.^ 

1  This  change  in  opinion  was  chiefly  due  to  Carlyle’s  Life  and  Letters  of  Oliver 
Cromwell  (1845).  One  evidence  of  the  change  is  the  erection  of  a  fine  statue  to 
his  memory  under  the  very  shadow  of  the  Houses  of  Parliament  (1899). 


350 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


429.  Richard  Cromwell ;  Protector,  1659  ;  Resigned,  1659. — 
After  Cromwell’s  death  his  son  Richard  was  promptly  proclaimed. 
The  strength  of  the  Protector’s  rule  was  shown  by  the  apparently 
willing  acquiescence  by  almost  all  parties  in  Richard’s  succession. 
A  new  Parliament  was  summoned,  chosen  on  the  old  basis  of  the 
Long  Parliament  (§  380).  The  members  were  disposed  to  make 
friends  with  Richard  because  he  was  not  a  soldier,  for  the  one 
thing  the  Commons  feared,  and  justly,  was  the  army. 

The  situation  would  have  been  difficult  even  for  a  man  of  Oliver 
Cromwell’s  ability,  and  for  his  son  it  was  impossible.  The  army 
made  the  first  move.  It  demanded  that  the  command  should  be 
given  to  Fleetwood,^  with  powers  independent  of  the  Protector. 
Richard  could  not  afford  to  accept  such  terms,  but  consented  to 
dissolve  Parliament  and  allow  the  long  Long  Parliament  to  be 
recalled.  In  this  the  Republicans  were  supreme.  The  power  in 
the  state  was  claimed  both  by  Parliament  and  the  army,  there  was 
no  room  for  a  Protector,  and  Richard,  practically  coerced, 
resigned  his  position  (May  25,  1659),  leaving  the  army  and  Par¬ 
liament  to  fight  it  out  between  themselves.^ 

430.  The  Army;  “The  Rump  Monk,  1659-1660.  —  It  was  to 
be  expected  that  the  army  and  the  “  Rump  ’’  (§  402)  should  quarrel. 
Lambert,  who  was  now  at  the  head  of  the  army,  followed  the  ex¬ 
ample  of  Cromwell  and  turned  out  the  “  Rump.’’  But  the  army 
leaders  found  that  it  was  no  easy  task  to  run  a  government,  and 
in  a  few  weeks  recalled  the  remnant  of  the  Long  Parliament. 
There  was,  however,  a  man  who  had  not  yet  come  upon  the  scene, 
General  Monk,  who  had  been  in  charge  of  Scotland. 

He  saw  that  unless  something  were  done  anarchy  would  come 
upon  the  country.  He  therefore  crossed  the  border  and  entered 
England  Qanuary  i,  1660),  was  joined  at  Newcastle  by  Fairfax  of 

1  Fleetwood  was  the  brother-in-law  of  Richard;  and  Desborough,  another  of 
the  army  leaders,  was  his  uncle.  His  foes  were  truly  of  his  own  household. 

2  On  the  Restoration  (1660),  Richard  Cromwell  retired  to  Paris,  and  lived  there 
under  an  assumed  name  for  about  twenty  years.  He  then  returned  to  England 
and  spent  the  rest  of  his  long  life  in  retirement.  He  died  in  1712. 


PARLIAMENT  INVITES  CHARLES  II 


351 


Civil  War  fame  (§  394),  and  together  they  marched  upon  London. 
No  one  knew  what  course  Monk  would  take.  He  found  that  the 
“  Rump  ”  was  hated  by  all  parties,  and  so  declared  himself  in 
favor  of  a  free  Parliament.  He  demanded  the  restoration  of  all 
members  who  had  been  expelled  from  the  Long  Parliament  by 
Pride’s  Purge  (§  402),  and  having  an  army  at  his  back,  he  was 
obeyed.  This  Parliament  provided  for  the  election  of  a  new 
Parliament  called  the  “  Convention  Parliament,”  ^  appointed 
Monk  general  of  the  army,  and  voted  its  own  dissolution  (March 
16,  1660).  Monk  recognized  that  the  restoration  of  the  old 
monarchy  and  Charles  H  as  king  was  the  nation’s  wish,  and  saw 
to  it  that  the  elections  were  free.  Monk’s  character  has  been  the 
subject  of  much  deserved  criticism,  but  he  rendered  an  incalcu¬ 
lable  service  to  England  in  bringing  about  the  Restoration  in  a 
peaceable  and  orderly  manner. 

431.  Declaration  of  Breda.  1660.  —  Meantime  communications 
were  held  with  Charles,  and  to  make  his  restoration  easier  he  issued 
his  Declaration  of  Breda  (April  4,  1660).^ 

Charles  in  this  document  offered  a  general  pardon  to  all 
except  those  specially  exempted  by  Parliament,  and  to  consent  to 
a  bill  for  “  liberty  to  tender  consciences,  and  that  no  man  shall  be 
disquieted  or  called  in  question  for  differences  of  opinion  in  mat¬ 
ters  of  religion  which  do  not  disturb  the  peace  of  the  kingdom.” 
The  document  was  drawn  so  as  to  throw  the  whole  responsibility 
upon  a  Parliament  which  would  be  likely  to  be  favorable  to  his 
interests. 

432.  Convention  Parliament  invites  Charles  ;  His  Arrival.  1660. 
—  The  Convention  Parliament  met  April  25,  1660.  The  Decla¬ 
ration  of  Breda  was  welcomed  with  joy,  and  Parliament  voted  that, 
“according  to  the  ancient  and  fundamental  laws  of  this  kingdom,  the 
Government  is  and  ought  to  be,  by  King,  Lords,  and  Commons.” 

1  So  called  because,  though  conforming  in  other  respects  to  the  old  laws,  it  was 
summoned  without  royal  writs. 

2  So  called  from  the  town  in  the  Netherlands  where  it  was  issued. 


352 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


On  the  25  th  of  May,  1660,  Charles  landed  at  Dover,  and  was 
greeted  with  cheers.  His  entrance  into  London  on  his  birthday, 
four  days  later,  was  a  time  of  still  greater  rejoicing.  There  can  be 
little  doubt  that  underlying  all  motives  for  this  rejoicing  was  the 
very  real  fear  of  anarchy  and  civil  war.  The  restoration  was  the 
one  measure  upon  which  the  nation  as  a  whole  could  agree. 

433.  Results  of  the  Puritan  Revolution.  —  Though  the  old 
order  appeared  to  be  restored,  it  was  not  so  in  fact,  for  much  of 
the  influence  and  some  of  the  salutary  legislation  of  the  Long 
Parliament  were  too  deeply  rooted  to  be  overthrown.  The  revolu¬ 
tion  had  arrested  the  growth  of  an  absolute  monarchy,  and  roused 
a  lasting  feeling  of  dislike  to  absolute  power,  whether  wielded  by 
King,  Parliament,  Protector,  or  army.  It  was  never  afterwards 
possible  to  have  a  court  of  Star  Chamber,  or  Council  of  the  North, 
or  to  lay  taxes  by  royal  prerogative ;  and  public  officers  could  no 
longer  be  sliielded  from  the  action  of  Parliament ;  and,  though  it 
was  many  years  before  real  toleration  and  religious  freedom  came 
about,  it  was  from  the  Commonwealth  and  the  Protectorate  that 
their  advocates  gained  their  inspiration.  Besides  all  this,  and  by 
no  means  of  least  importance,  the  English  acquired  a  wholesome 
dread  of  civil  war  and  military  rule. 

References.  —  Green,  Short  History,  chap,  viii,  §§  8-10;  Gardiner, 
Student's  History,  chaps,  xxxiv-xxxvi ;  Terry,  Part  HI,  Hook  HI,  chaps,  iv-v; 
Tout,  Advanced  History,  Hook  VI,  chap,  ii,  §§  30-47,  chap,  iii;  Gardiner, 
Puritan  Revolution,  chaps,  vii-x,  §  i;  Traill,  Social  England,  vol.  IV, 
chap,  xiv;  Adams  and  Stephens,  Select  Documents,  §§  207-221 ;  Cheyney, 
Readings,  chap,  xv,  §§  iii-v;  Colby,  Selections,  §§  73-76;  Kendall,  Source- 
Book,  §§  79-89;  Lee,  Source-Book,  §§  160-174. 


CHAPTER  XXI 


THE  RESTORATION,  AND  THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1688 

434.  Charles  II.  1 660.  —  The  restoration  of  Charles  was  a 
compromise,  for  the  Declaration  of  Breda  recognized  the  power  of 
the  people  in  a  way  and  to  a  degree  that  Charles  I  never  would 
have  done.  The  position  of  the  king  was  a  difficult  one  :  he 
brought  back  with  him  not  a  few  Cavaliers  whose  claims  must  be 
recognized,  anil  many  of  the  royalists,  whose  estates  had  been  con¬ 
fiscated  under  the  Commonwealth,  were  clamorous  for  their  return 
or  for  indemnities  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  those  who  had  profited 
by  the  confiscations  were  by  no  means  ready  to  give  up  their  lands. 
The  army  was  safely  disposed  of  by  paying  it  off,  after  which  all 
the  soldiers  except  about  5000  were  disbanded. 

Charles  II  was  a  much  abler  man  than  his  father,  and  if  his 
moral  character  had  been  even  fairly  good,  and  if  he  had  been 
less  selfish,  he  might  have  been  an  excellent  ruler.  But  he  was 
unscrupulous,  supremely  selfish,  and  doubtless  the  most  immoral 
sovereign  that  ever  sat  upon  the  English  throne.  His  court  was 
a  disgrace  to  the  nation.  He  was  not,  however,  without  some 
good  points,  for  he  wished  to  see  England  powerful  abroad,  and  to 
develop  her  colonial  and  commercial  policy.  He  was  naturally 
tolerant,  and  one  of  the  early  acts  of  his  new  power  was  to  order 
the  persecutions  of  the  Quakers  in  New  England  to  cease.  Indeed, 
all  through  his  reign,  he  was  favorable  to  toleration,  but  his  laziness 
and  selfishness  were  always  most  prominent,  and  when  his  own 
personal  gratification  was  in  question  other  things  were  deemed  of 
slight  account.  He  had  one  quality  which  his  father  utterly  lacked, 
and  that  was  an  instinctive  perception  of  how  far  he  could  go,  and 
for  this  reason  the  opposition  to  him  never  went  as  far  as  rebellion. 

353 


354 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


It  is  said  that  he  had  made  up  his  mind  on  one  point  —  that  he 
“  would  never  go  upon  his  travels  again.” 

435.  Treatment  of  the  King’s  Enemies.  —  On  the  whole  it 
cannot  be  said  that  those  who  had  fought  against  Charles  I  and 
Charles  II  were  harshly  treated.  An  act  of  general  indemnity 
and  pardon  was  passed,  excepting  only  the  regicides  —  as  those 
who  had  sat  in  judgment  on  the  king  were  styled  —  and  a  very  few 
others.'  In  all,  thirteen  were  put  to  death,  and  others  imprisoned 
or  exiled.  One  of  the  acts  which  might  be  termed  despicable  was 
the  exhuming  of  the  bodies  of  Cromwell  and  others  of  the  Parlia¬ 
mentary  leaders.  The  bodies  were  dragged  through  the  streets 
on  a  sledge,  then  hung  on  the  gallows  at  Tyburn  for  a  day,  after 
which  they  were  cut  down  and  decapitated,  and  the  heads  of 
Cromwell,  Ireton,  and  Bradshaw  were  set  up  on  the  top  of  West¬ 
minster  Hall.  The  bodies  were  buried  at  the  foot  of  the  gallows.^ 

The  Convention  Parliament,  besides  passing  the  Indemnity  Act, 
abolished  military  tenures,  feudal  dues,  and  the  right  of  purvey¬ 
ance.^  The  Navigation  Act  of  1651  (§413)  was  reenacted. 
There  was  such  a  division  of  opinion  in  regard  to  the  religious 
problems  that  they  were  left  unsolved.  The  result  of  the  legis¬ 
lation  was  to  restore  social  conditions  very  nearly  to  the  state  in 
which  they  had  been  before  the  Commonwealth.  This  Parliament 
was  dissolved  in  December,  1660. 

436.  The  “Cavalier  Parliament.”  1661-1679.  —  A  new  Parlia¬ 
ment  was  called,  which  met  in  May,  1661.  From  its  strong 
royalist  feeling  it  has  been  called  the  “  Cavalier  Parliament,”  and 


1  In  the  matter  of  lands  the  question  was  so  difficult  that  it  was  said,  "  Parlia¬ 
ment  had  passed  an  Act  of  Indemnity  for  the  King's  enemies  and  Oblivion  for  his 
friends." 

2  There  seems  to  be  little  doubt  that  "  where  Connaught  Square  now  stands,  a 
yard  or  two  beneath  the  street,  trodden  under  foot  and  beaten  by  horsehoofs,  lies 
the  dust  of  the  great  Protector.” 

3  Purveyance  is  the  right  of  a  sovereign  to  buy  up  provisions  and  other  necessa¬ 
ries  for  the  royal  household  at  an  appraised  price,  in  preference  to  all  others,  even 
without  the  owner’s  consent.  The  king  could  also  compel  certain  other  services. 
To  compensate  Charles  for  this  loss  he  was  granted  certain  excise  duties. 


THE  RESTORATION 


355 


sometimes,  from  its  length,  the  “  Second  Long  Parliament  ” 
(§  380).  It  also  resembled  that  body  in  being  fully  as  intoler¬ 
ant  and  vindictive  in  its  measures.  As  the  Convention  Parlia¬ 
ment  had  restored  political  and  social  conditions,  so  this  was 
resolved  to  restore  religious  conditions  and  destroy  Puritanism. 
While  Parliament 
also  restored  some 
of  the  prerogatives 
of  the  king,  it  had 
no  intention  of 
giving  him  control 
over  revenues,  or 
the  coasts  ;  or  fur¬ 
nishing  him  with 
a  standing  army; 
or  allowing  per¬ 
sonal  interference 
with  freedom  of 
speech  in  Parlia- 
m  e  n  t ,  which 
henceforth  was  to 
be  checked  only 
by  Parliament  it¬ 
self.  Charles  II 

One  of  the  first 

acts  was  to  confirm  the  legislation  of  the  Convention  Parliament, 
which  had  not  been  legally  summoned.  This  act  of  confirmation 
was  only  passed  by  the  earnest  efforts  of  both  Charles  and  his 
chief  minister.  Lord  Clarendon.  Later  (1664)  it  repealed  the 
Triennial  Bill  (§  382),  restored  the  bishops  to  the  House  of 
Lords,  and  gave  back  to  the  Established  Church  (1661)  all  its 
property  which  had  been  seized. 

437.  The  Clarendon  Code.  1661-1665.  —  Parliament  now 
began  the  enactment  of  what  is  known  as  the  “  Clarendon 


356 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


Code.”  ^  The  first  act  was  the  Corporation  Act.  By  this,  mem¬ 
bership  in  the  various  botiies  which  governed  the  towns  was  con¬ 
fined  to  such  persons  as  would  partake  of  the  communion  by  the 
rites  of  the  Church  of  England,  would  renounce  the  Covenant 
(§  393),  and  take  the  oaths  of  allegiance,  non-resistance,-  and 
supremacy.  All  Nonconformists  by  the  act  were  debarred  from 
political  power.^ 

The  Act  of  Uniformity  (1662)  required  all  clergymen  to  use 
the  Episcopal  Prayer  Book  and  give  their  “unfeigned  assent  and 
consent  to  all  and  everything  contained  and  prescribed  in  and  by 
the  book.”  Those  who  refused  to  do  this  by  St.  Bartholomew’s 
Day  (August  24),  1662,  were  to  be  expelled  from  their  livings. 
Those  who  dissented  from  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  England 
were  now  called  “Dissenters”  rather  than  Nonconformists.^ 

The  next  law  relating  to  church  matters  was  the  Conventicle 
Act  (1664),  the  purpose  of  which  was  to  prevent  Dissenters 
(ministers  or  laity)  from  holding  meetings  for  worship.  By  the 
act  the  attendance  of  adults  at  any  religious  meeting  or  conventicle  ® 
other  than  the  Church  of  England  was  punished  by  imprisonment 
for  the  first  and  second  offense,  and  transportation  for  the  third, 
on  pain  of  death  if  the  criminal  returned  to  England. 

Thousands,  rather  than  obey  such  a  law,  braved  all  dangers  and 
in  consequence  suffered  terrible  persecution.  Hundreds  died  in 
the  filthy  and  horrible  jails  of  that  day,  and  others  endured  long 
imprisonment.  The  most  celebrated  of  these  was  John  Bunyan, 

1  So  called  from  the  Earl  of  Clarendon,  Charles’s  minister,  whose  policy  was  car¬ 
ried  out.  This  succession  of  laws  was,  (i)  The  Corporation  Act  (i66i).  (2)  Act 
of  Uniformity  (1662),  (3)  Conventicle  Act  (1664),  and  (4)  the  Five-Mile  Act 
(1665).  Together  they  made  a  code  unequalled  in  English  history  for  what  can 
hardly  be  called  by  any  other  name  than  tyranny. 

2  This  was  the  doctrine  that  it  was  unlawful  at  any  time  to  take  up  arms  against 
the  sovereign. 

8  The  chief  nonconformist  bodies  at  that  time,  besides  the  Roman  Catholics,  were 
(i)  the  Presbyterians,  (2)  the  Independents,  (3)  the  Baptists,  and  (4)  the  Society 
of  Friends,  or  Quakers. 

■tThe  title  Nonconformists  has  in  recent  years  again  come  into  general  use  to 
distinguish  Protestants  who  do  not  belong  to  the  Established  Church. 

®  This  was  defined  as  a  meeting  of  five  or  more  persons  for  religious  worship. 


THE  CLARENDON  CODE 


357 


the  Baptist,  who  spent  eleven  years  in  Bedford  jail  rather  than 
obey  the  law.*  The  Quakers  suffered  most  of  all,  for  they  not  only 
refused  to  obey  the  Conventicle  Act,  but  also,  on  conscientious 
scruples,  declined  to  take  any  oath  whatsoever,  though  they  were 
always  willing  to  make  a  declaration  of  their  allegiance  to  the 
government.  During  the  reign  of  Charles  II  13,000  Quakers  suf¬ 
fered  imprisonment,  mainly  on  account  of  the  Conventicle  Act. 

But  the  purpose  was  to  root  out  dissent,  and  to  further  this  the 
Five-Mile  Act  was  passed  (1665).  By  this  act  no  clergyman  or 
schoolmaster  was  allowed  to  settle  within  five  miles  of  a  city, 
or  corporate  town,  or  any  place  where  he  had  been  minister  or 
teacher,  unless  he  declared  that  he  would  not  “  at  any  time  en¬ 
deavor  any  alteration  of  government  either  in  church  or  state,”  and 
would  subscribe  to  the  doctrine  of  non-resistance.  This  act  bore 
most  heavily  on  those  clergymen  who  had  been  expelled  from 
their  livings  by  the  Act  of  Uniformity  (1662).  Unable  to  exercise 
their  former  office  of  minister,  many  had  turned  to  teaching.  By 
this  legislation  they  were  cut  off  from  almost  all  means  of  self-sup¬ 
port,  for  many  of  them  were  too  old  or  feeble  to  turn  to  manual 
labor.  Besides  this  there  is  little  doubt  that  it  seriously  retarded 
the  progress  of  education. 

438.  Results  of  the  Clarendon  Code. — That  it  was  possible  to 
pass  such  drastic  legislation  as  the  Clarendon  Code  is  due  to 
several  causes.  There  was  a  wave  of  enthusiasm  passing  over  the 
country  which  carried  into  Parliament  a  large  royalist  majority.* 
Many  of  the  members  were  young  men  belonging  to  families 
which  had  suffered  from  Puritanism,  and  were  large  landowners  or 
members  of  the  landowning  class.  To  such  the  democratic 
system  of  the  Presbyterians,  Independents,  and  others  was  wholly 
distasteful. 

The  result  of  the  Code  was  to  make  a  permanent  change  in  the 

1  It  was  while  thus  imprisoned  that  he  wrote  Pilgrun's  Progress, 

2  Charles  recognized  this  fact,  and,  knowing  it  was  not  likely  he  would  get 
another  such  Parliament,  did  not  dissolve  it  for  eighteen  years. 


358 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


religious  life  of  the  kingdom.  The  Presbyterians  and  Independ¬ 
ents  among  the  gentry  and  nobility,  unwilling  to  forfeit  their 
political  rights  and  social  position,  almost  all  conformed  to  the 
state  church.  To  do  this  was  made  easier  by  the  great  reaction 
from  Puritanism. 

The  persecutions  of  the  Restoration  period  were  caused  more 
by  political  hatred  than  by  religious  intolerance. 

439.  The  Restoration  in  Scotland.  —  In  Scotland  the  union  so 
carefully  planned  by  Cromwell  (§411)  was  set  aside.  As  in 
England,  so  in  Scotland,  the  nobility  and  gentry  were  pleased  at 
the  Restoration,  for  they  had  suffered  much  under  the  Common¬ 
wealth.  But  the  Scottish  Parliament,  wliich  soon  met,  was  as 
obsequious  to  the  wishes  of  Charles  as  the  Convention  (§  430) 
and  the  Cavalier  Parliaments  (§  436).  It  declared  that  with  the 
king  lay  “the  sole  choice  and  appointment  of  all  the  chief  officers 
of  the  kingdom  and  of  summoning  and  dismissing  Parliaments, 
and  of  making  war  and  peace.”  It  declared  “the  king  supreme 
Governor  of  this  Kingdom  over  all  persons  and  in  all  cases.”  But 
even  worse  than  this,  all  that  had  been  done  in  the  Parliaments 
which  had  been  held  since  1633  was  declared  null  and  void.  Be¬ 
sides  this  it  voted  the  king  an  annual  grant  of;^40,ooo,  an  amount 
which  the  nation  could  not  afford  to  pay.' 

440.  Punishment  and  Persecution  in  Scotland.  — As  in  England, 
it  was  felt  needful  to  punish  some  of  those  who  had  supported  the 
Commonwealth  and  Protectorate.  The  chief  of  these  was  the 
Marquis  of  Argyll.  The  evidence  against  him  was  scanty  and 
slight,  but,  notwithstanding,  he  was  condemned  and  executed 
(May  27,  1661).^  Several  others  also  suffered  death.  Acts  similar 
to  the  Act  of  Uniformity  and  Five-Mile  Act  were  also  passed. 

1  So  sweeping  were  the  acts  of  this  Parliament  that  it  was  said  that  the  members 
were  drunk,  and  it  went  by  the' name  of  “  the  Drunken  Parliament.” 

2  Argyll  had  been  at  the  head  of  the  Covenanters.  He  had  been  one  of  the  chief 
agents  in  the  restoration  of  Charles,  and  trusted  to  the  declaration  of  pardon.  But 
this  did  not  save  him.  It  is  said  that  the  chief  evidence  against  him  was  given  by 
Monk,  “  an  example  of  baseness  which  staggered  even  the  public  men  of  that  day.” 


SCOTLAND  AND  IRELAND 


359 


The  Scottish  Covenanters  then  suffered  a  persecution  similar  to 
that  inflicted  upon  the  Nonconformists  in  England,  and  the  brutal 
treatment  of  the  Covenanters  remains  one  of  the  blackest  chapters 
in  Scottish  history. 

441.  Restoration  in  Ireland.  —  In  Ireland,  as  in  Scotland,  the 
union  was  dissolved,  and  the  Parliament  discontinued  by  Crom¬ 
well  was  reestablished.  Though  the  religious  persecution  was  less 
than  in  England  the  political  policy  pursued  was  worse,  for  it  per¬ 
manently  alienated  the  large  Catholic  population  of  that  island. 
The  Irish  problem,  it  is  true,  was  a  difficult  one.  The  govern¬ 
ment  at  first  by  the  Act  of  Settlement  (1661)  allowed  the  settlers 
under  the  Cromwellian  rule,  and  those  who  held  land  gained  un¬ 
der  the  rule  of  Charles  I,  to  hold  their  lands.  Later,  owing  to 
the  number  of  claimants  among  the  royalists  and  among  the  fa¬ 
vorites  of  Charles  II,  it  was  deemed  needful  to  dispossess  some 
of  the  Cromwellian  settlers  (Act  of  Explanation,  1665).  This, 
however,  did  not  benefit  the  Irish,  and  the  result  was  that  only 
a  third  of  the  land  and  possibly  even  less  was  held  by  Irish  Cath¬ 
olic  owners,'  and  though  there  wa?  an  Irish  Parliament,  it  was 
filled  with  men  of  English  descent  and  Protestants,^  who  con¬ 
firmed  all  acts  of  government,  w'hile  the  Catholics  had  no  voice. 

Politically  also  the  dissolution  of  the  union  with  England  was 
greatly  injurious  to  the  interests  of  Ireland,  for  it  deprived  the  is¬ 
land  of  all  benefits  of  the  general  legislation  of  the  English  Parlia¬ 
ment,  placing  her  almost  in  the  position  of  a  foreign  country,  and 
making  possible  that  feature  of  absentee  landlordism  which  has 
been  such  an  instrument  for  evil. 

442.  The  Restoration  and  Foreign  Affairs ;  French  Alliance.  — 
The  Restoration  made  more  difference  in  the  foreign  policy  of 
England  than  appeared  on  the  surface.  Cromwell  always  shaped 

1  It  is  stated  that  “  whereas  before  1641  about  two  thirds  of  Irish  land  fit  for  cul¬ 
tivation  had  been  in  the  hands  of  Catholics,  before  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Charles 
II,  two  thirds  were  in  the  hands  of  Protestants." 

2 "So  complete  was  the  English  supremacy  thus  established,  that  (up  to  1687) 
one  Catholic  only  had  been  returned  to  Parliament  since  the  Restoration." 


36o 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


his  policy  for  what  he  believed  to  be  the  benefit  of  England ; 
while  Charles  made  his  own  personal  advantage  the  chief  object. 
France,  under  Louis  XIV,  was  the  strongest  power  in  Europe.  It 
was  clearly  for  the  interest  of  England  that  the  influence  of  France 
should  be  checked.  But  Charles  believed  that  the  French  alli¬ 
ance  would  be  to  his  personal  advantage  and  so  fell  in  with  the 
wishes  of  Louis. 

Dunkirk,  acquired  under  Cromwell  (§  424),  he  sold  in  1662  to 
the  French.  This  act,  though  unpopular  at  the  time,  was  really  a 
good  thing  for  England,  as  holding  Dunkirk  was  a  heavy  expense, 
and  continental  possessions  were  a  hindrance  to  her  independence. 
In  the  same  year,  as  a  result  of  the  French  diplomacy,  Charles 
married  Catharine  of  Braganza,  a  Catholic  princess,  sister  of  the 
king  of  Portugal,  a  close  ally  of  the  French.  The  treaty  made 
with  Portugal  on  the  occasion  of  this  event  gave  England  Tangier, 
opposite  Gibraltar,  and  Bombay  with  the  island  on  which  it  is 
situated,  in  India.  Bombay  was  soon  handed  over  to  the  East 
India  Company  and  became  the  most  important  of  its  stations. 
In  addition  to  these  transfers  Catharine  brought  a  large  dowry. 
This  marriage  made  a  bitter  enemy  of  Spain,  for  it  strengthened 
Portugal,  which,  formerly  a  part  of  Spain,  had  cast  off  her  rule  in 
1640.  The  French  alliance  was  displeasing  to  many  in  England. 

443.  War  with  Holland,  1664-1667  ;  New  Netherland  captured, 
1664.  —  The  Dutch  were  still  the  great  commercial  rivals  of  the 
English.  England  had  reenacted  the  Navigation  Act  (§§  413, 
435),  and  various  conflicts  had  arisen  between  the  two  nations. 
In  addition  to  this,  Charles  was  angry  because  the  Dutch  had 
elected  John  De  Witt,  an  able  statesman,  as  their  Stadtholder,  in¬ 
stead  of  his  own  nephew.  Prince  William,  son  of  the  late  William 
of  Orange.  Fighting  began  in  1664.  English  ships  took  posses¬ 
sion  of  New  Netherland  (afterwards  New  York),  while  the  Dutch 
seized  English  possessions  in  Africa. 

In  1665  war  was  formally  declared.  The  Dutch  had  the  abler 
officers,  and  their  fleet  under  Admiral  Ruyter  at  one  time  sailed 


THE  PLAGUE  AND  THE  GREAT  FIRE  36 1 

up  the  Thames,  entered  the  Medway,  burned  several  war  vessels, 
and  blockaded  London  itself.  Such  a  thing  had  not  been  known 
in  centuries  and  has  never  occurred  since.  Notwithstanding  the 
Dutch  successes,  England  gained  some  victories  and  showed  her 
power  conclusively.  Louis  XIV  joined  the  Dutch,  partly  in  ac¬ 
cordance  with  a  treaty  and  partly  because  he  had  no  wish  to  see 
England  mistress  of  the  seas. 

444.  Peace  with  Holland ;  England  gains  New  Netherland. 
1667.  —  The  Dutch  were  glad  to  conclude  a  peace  with  the  Eng¬ 
lish  (1667).  By  this  treaty  each  nation  was  to  retain  possession 
of  what  lands  it  held  at  the  time.  This  agreement  brought  New 
Netherland  under  English  dominion.  Charles  granted  it  to  his 
brother  James,  Duke  of  York,  and  the  name  was  changed  to  New 
York.  The  acquisition  of  New  Netherland  was  of  vast  importance, 
for  it  gave  the  English  an  unbroken  coast  line  in  America,  and 
uninterrupted  territory  from  Maine  to  Florida.  The  colonial 
policy  of  the  Restoration  was  a  continuation  of  the  expansion 
policy  of  the  Protectorate,  as  is  seen  in  the  establishment  of 
Carolina  (1663);  New  Jersey  (1667);  and  Pennsylvania  (1681). 

445.  The  Plague,  1665;  The  Great  Fire,  1666.  —  During  the 
Dutch  war  London  was  visited  by  a  terrible  epidemic  (1665). 
The  plague,  as  it  was  called,  had  appeared  in  England  at  intervals 
of  about  five  years.  But  this  was  the  most  devastating  invasion. 
It  is  estimated  that  in  London  out  of  a  population  of  500,000 
about  70,000  perished.  All  that  were  able  to  do  so  fled  to  the 
country,  business  was  practically  suspended,  and  a  pall  of  horror 
was  over  the  city.  So  numerous  were  the  deaths  that  all  usual 
formalities  were  dispensed  with  ;  “  carts  were  the  biers,  and  wide 
pits  the  graves.”  At  night  the  carts  went  slowly  through  the  city, 
the  driver  ringing  a  bell  and  calling,  “  Bring  out  your  dead.”  On 
the  coming  of  cold  weather  the  disease  was  stayed.* 

1  At  that  time  considered  as  a  visitation  of  Providence,  it  was  probably  the 
bubonic  plague,  and  its  ravages  were  vastly  increased  by  bad  water,  filth,  the  ab¬ 
sence  of  sewerage,  and  of  everything  now  known  as  sanitation. 


362 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


The  year  following  the  visitation  of  the  plague,  London  was 
visited  by  another  calamity  in  the  shape  of  the  Great  Fire.  This 
began  on  September  2,  1666,  and  continued  three  days.  A  large 
part  of  the  city  was  destroyed  ;  it  is  said  that  eighty-nine  churches, 
among  them  the  splendid  Gothic  cathedral  of  Saint  Paul,  and 


Fleeing  from  the  Plague  in  London 
After  an  old  print 


over  1 3,000  houses  were  consumed,  and  more  than  a  third  of  the 
inhabitants  were  rendered  homeless.  Though  the  fire  occasioned 
great  loss  and  suffering  at  the  time,  it  was  in  fact  a  great  blessing, 
for  all  the  plague  spots  and  hundreds  of  ill-built  and  unsanitary 
buildings  were  destroyed. 

446.  Clarendon ;  His  Daughter  marries  James,  the  King’s 
Brother.  1660.  —  The  chief  minister  and  adviser  of  Charles  was 
Edward  Hyde,  Earl  of  Clarendon  (§  437).  He  was  an  upright, 
moral  man  compared  with  those  around  him,  and  was  undoubtedly, 
from  his  point  of  view,  patriotic,  but  his  ideas  of  government  were 
those  of  a  previous  age.  “  By  representing  king  against  Parliament 
in  matters  of  money,  and  Parliament  against  king  in  matters  of 
religion,  he  incurred  the  hostility  of  both.” 

His  unpopularity  increased,  and  in  1667  Charles  dismissed  him 


THE  CABAL 


363 


from  office.  A  few  months  later  the  Commons  impeached  him 
on  a  charge  of  high  treason,  but  the  evidence  was  so  flimsy  that  the 
Lords  refused  to  send  him  to  prison.  By  the  advice  of  Charles  he 
fled  to  France,  and  Parliament  passed  an  act  of  banishment.^ 


St.  Paul’s  Cathedral,  rebuilt  after  the  Great  Fire 


447.  The  “Cabal  Ministry,”  1667;  Aims  of  Charles  II. — 
Up  to  this  time  Charles  had  been  greatly  influenced  by  Clarendon  ; 
now  Charles  determined  to  rule  without  any  chief  minister  of  state, 
but  he  frequently  consulted  five  men  more  than  others.  These  men 
were  Clifford,  Arlington,  Buckingham,  Ashley,  and  Lauderdale. 
As  their  initials  spelled  Cabal  they  came  to  be  called  the  “  Cabal 

1  While  abroad  he  finished  his  History  of  the  Rebellion,  a  valuable  work,  though 
greatly  prejudiced. 


364 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


Ministry.”  ^  Of  these  Lord  Ashley,  afterwards  the  Earl  of  Shaftes¬ 
bury,  was  the  ablest.  All  were  unprincipled,  selfish,  and  corrupt. 
Except  upon  a  few  points  they  were  not  united  and  cannot  be 
considered  as  a  cabinet  in  the  modern  sense.  Their  common 
dislike  of  the  old  Cavalier  party  led  them  to  support  toleration 
at  home  and  peace  abroad. 

Charles  II  has  not  had  credit  enough  given  him  for  the  skill  and 
tenacity  with  which  he  pursued  for  a  long  series  of  years  the  object 
of  his  wishes  —  personal  power,  freedom  from  the  dominion  of  the 
Episcopal  party,  and  the  reestablishment  of  Catholicism ;  his 
method  was  intrigue  at  home  and  abroad.  His  main  reliance  was 
upon  Louis  XIV. 

448.  Intrigues  of  Charles  II  and  Louis  XIV. — The  rapidly 
growing  power  of  France  had  been  regarded  with  apprehension 
by  the  English,  and  in  1668  a  triple  alliance  was  formed  between 
England,  Sweden,  and  Holland  for  the  purpose  of  forcing  Louis  to 
give  up  his  scheme  of  increasing  his  possessions  at  the  expense 
of  Spain.  Louis,  deeming  it  wisest  to  yield  for' the  time,  made 
peace,  and  gave  up  some  of  his  conquests  (1668).  Charles,  out¬ 
wardly  supporting  the  Triple  Alliance,  was  negotiating  secretly  with 
Louis,  to  whom  he  had  privately  communicated  the  terms  of  the 
Alliance. 

As  a  result  of  the  influence  of  Louis,  Charles  negotiated  with 
him  a  secret  treaty  called  the  Treaty  of  Dover  (1670).  The  main 
points  were  that  Charles  agreed  to  support  Louis  in  a  war  against 
the  Dutch  ;  to  support  him  in  his  claim  to  the  Spanish  throne  in 
case  the  king  of  Spain  should  die  without  a  direct  heir ;  and  to 
avow  himself  a  Catholic  “  as  soon  as  the  affairs  of  his  kingdom 
should  permit.”  Louis  on  his  part  was  to  give  a  large  sum  of 

1  The  word  was  used  to  signify  a  number  of  persons  uniting  to  gain  some  private 
ends.  It  was  nothing  but  a  coincidence  that  the  initials  of  the  men  in  question 
should  form  the  word.  Lord  Ashley  had  been  prominent  in  the  Commonwealth 
as  Sir  Anthony  Ashley  Cooper ;  Buckingham  was  the  son  of  the  old  favorite  of 
Charles  I  (§§  349,  363)  and  had  the  reputation  of  being  “  the  maddest,  wittiest,  most 
profligate  man  in  England  "  ;  Lauderdale  was  “  the  Episcopal  tyrant  of  Scotland  " ; 
Clifford  was  a  strong  Catholic ;  and  Arlington  was  favorable  to  Catholicism. 


WAR  WITH  HOLLAND 


365 


money  in  return  for  the  aid  against  the  Dutch  ;  turn  over  to  Eng¬ 
land  the  province  of  Zealand  in  Holland  in  case  of  success  ;  give 
Charles  personally  ^200,000  a  year  for  declaring  himself  a  Catho¬ 
lic  ;  and  also  to  furnish  troops  and  money  to  support  Charles  in 
England.  No  English  monarch  ever  made  a  more  disgraceful 
treaty,  and  Charles  did  not  dare  to  make  known  some  of  its  pro¬ 
visions  even  to  the  members  of  the  Cabal. 

One  of  the  reasons  which  induced  Charles  to  enter  into  the 
arrangement  with  Louis  was  his  difficulty  in  raising  money.  In 
1671  Parliament  granted  a  large  sum  nominally  for  the  navy,  after 
which  Charles  prorogued  Parliament.  In  1672  the  treasury  was 
bankrupt  and  Charles  suspended  payment  of  all  loans  which  had 
been  made  to  the  government.' 

449.  War  with  Holland,  1672;  William  of  Orange.  —  In  the 
same  year  war  was  declared  against  Holland  in  accordance  with 
the  Treaty  of  Dover.  This  war  was  unpopular.  The  Dutch  had 
not  expected  war,  and  when  the  armies  of  Louis  invaded  Holland 
they  were  unprepared.  William,  the  young  Prince  of  Orange, 
nephew  of  Charles,^  though  under  twenty-two,  was  made  general 
of  the  Dutch  forces,  but  he  had  too  few  men  to  take  much  risk. 
De  Witt,  the  Grand  Pensionary,  or  ruler  of  Holland,  seeing  no 
other  resource,  cut  the  dikes  which  kept  out  the  sea  and  effect¬ 
ually  prevented  a  further  advance  by  the  French. 

Meanwhile  William  had  been  proclaimed  Stadtholder  in  Hol¬ 
land,  and  his  career  more  than  justified  the  choice.  When  Buck- 
inghanr,  who  was  sent  from  England  to  urge  him  to  accept  the 
terms  of  Louis,  said  to  him,  “  Do  you  not  see  that  the  republic  is 
lost?”  it  is  reported  that  William  replied,  “I  know  one  means 
of  never  seeing  it  —  to  die  in  the  last  ditch.”  From  this  time 

1  This,  known  as  tlie  "  Stop  of  the  Exchequer,”  was  really  the  beginning  of  Eng¬ 
land's  national  debt.  Among  the  loans  whose  payment  was  thus  stopped  was  one 
of  £11,000  due  Admiral  Sir  William  Penn,  the  father  of  William  Penn.  It  was  in 
recognition  of  this  debt  that  Charles  II  granted  William  Penn  the  province  of 
Pennsylvania. 

2  He  was  the  son  of  Charles’s  sister  Mary,  who  married  the  Prince  of  Orange 
in  1641. 


366 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


until  his  death  (1702)  William  was  the  leader  of  Europe  against 
Louis  XIV  and  the  aggressions  of  France. 

450.  James,  Duke  of  York,  becomes  a  Catholic ;  Declaration  of 
Indulgence.  1672.  —  James,  Duke  of  York,  the  brother  of  the 
king,  publicly  joined  the  Catholic  Church  (1672).  Charles,  while 
Parliament  was  not  sitting,  issued  a  Declaration  of  Indulgence ;  ^ 
this  suspended  the  penal  laws  against  Nonconformists  and  thus 
gave  liberty  of  worship  to  Catholics  as  well  as  Dissenters.  It  re¬ 
leased  from  prison  thousands  who  were  held  for  disobeying  the 
ecclesiastical  laws  of  Parliament.  Many  of  the  Dissenters  dreaded 
the  use  of  the  king’s  claimed  prerogative  even  more  than  the  penal 
laws  against  themselves. 

451.  Parliament  meets;  The  Test  Act.  1673.  —  Parliament 
came  together  again  after  an  interval  of  nearly  two  years.  A 
resolution  was  passed  that  “  penal  statutes  in  matters  ecclesiastical 
cannot  be  suspended  but  by  act  of  Parliament.”  Charles  found 
that  no  money  would  be  forthcoming  unless  he  withdrew  the  Dec¬ 
laration,  and  so  he  unwillingly  complied  with  the  wish  of  Parlia¬ 
ment  (1673). 

Fearful  as  it  had  been  of  dissent.  Parliament  was  now  still  more 
fearful  of  the  Catholics,^  and  so  passed  the  Test  Act.  This  re¬ 
quired,  among  other  things,  that  all  persons  holding  office  under 
the  crown  must  partake  of  the  communion  according  to  the  usage 
of  the  Church  of  England.  It  was  impossible  for  a  Catholic  to 
retain  office  under  this  act,  and  among  those  who  resigned  their 
positions  were  the  Duke  of  York,  Clifford,  and  Arlington.  Charles 

1  Charles  claimed  the  right  to  issue  this  declaration  under  the  royal  power  ot 
pardon  and  dispensation.  No  one  doubted  the  power  of  the  king  to  pardon  in 
individual  cases,  and  this  power  to  some  extent  implied  the  power  of  dispensation, 
that  is,  to  dispense  with  a  law  in  an  individual  case.  But  to  make  such  a  general 
dispensation  as  Charles  claimed  would  mean  the  annulling  of  the  acts  of  Parlia¬ 
ment  at  the  king’s  pleasure. 

2  The  real  cause  of  the  great  opposition  to  the  Catholics  was  not  religious,  but 
political.  It  was  believed  that  Catholic  rule  would  bring  England  under  the 
political  control  of  the  Pope.  This  feeling  was  in  part  an  inheritance  from  the  time 
of  Elizabeth. 


INTRIGUES  OF  CHARLES 


367 


did  not  dare  to  refuse  to  sign  the  bill,  for  no  grant  of  money  had 
been  made,  but  immediately  after  he  had  affixed  his  signature 
Parliament  made  a  large  grant. 

The  king,  wishing  to  placate  the  Commons,  appointed  Sir 
Thomas  Osborne  high  treasurer  and  practically  prime  minister. 
He  became  the  Earl  of  Danby,  and  is  generally  known  by  that 
name.  He  was  a 
strong  Cavalier  and 
great  supporter  of 
the  church,  but  he 
recognized  fully  the 
danger  England  was 
in  from  Louis,  and 
would  have  gladly 
renewed  the  Triple 
Alliance  (§  448)  had 
it  been  possible. 

The  war  with  the 
Dutch,  however,  was 
ended  in  1674. 

Meanwhile,  the 
Duke  of  York  had 
married  Mary  of  Mo¬ 
dena,  an  Italian 
1 


Duke  of  York 
Afterwards  King  James  II 


Catholic  princess.' 

Should  she  have  a  son,  he  would  be  heir  to  the  throne  of  England, 
and  with  Catholic  parents  he  would  undoubtedly  be  educated  in 
their  faith. 

452.  Intrigues  of  Charles;  Danby.  1673—1678.  —  From  this 
time  the  reign  of  Charles  was  so  full  of  intrigues  on  all  sides  that 
it  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  thread  one’s  way  through  the  tangles 

■  The  first  wife  of  James,  Ann  Hyde,  daughter  of  Clarendon,  had  joined  the 
Catholic  Church  shortly  before  her  death  in  1671.  Her  two  daughters,  Mary  and 
Anne,  had  been  brought  up  as  Protestants,  and  should  James  come  to  the  throne, 
his  heirs  would  be  Protestants;  but  now  there  was  possibility  of  a  Catholic  heir. 


368 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


of  deceit  and  falsehood.  As  Danby  was  working  against  France, 
and  Charles  secretly  for  France,  the  result  was  that  England’s 
position  became  little  short  of  scandalous.  Charles  prorogued 
Parliament  and  did  not  call  it  for  about  a  year.  Meanwhile  he 
made  another  secret  treaty  with  Louis,  promising  to  enter  into  no 
engagement  with  a  foreign  country  without  the  consent  of  Louis, 
accepting  all  the  time  heavy  bribes  from  him.  Danby,  on  his 
part,  used  bribery  in  order  to  gain  members  of  Parliament  over  to 
his  side,  and  Louis,  aware  that  Parliament  was  hostile  to  him,  also 
sejit  bribes  to  Shaftesbury  to  secure  his  support  in  a  scheme  to  get 
Parliament  dissolved. 

When  Parliament  met  in  1677  it  urged  Charles  to  make  war 
upon  France,  whereupon  Charles  adjourned  it.  A  third  secret 
treaty  was  made  with  Louis,  by  which  Charles  got  the  promise  of 
more  money.  Notwithstanding  these  treaties  with  France,  Charles 
in  1678  gave  his  consent  to  the  marriage  of  his  niece,  the  Princess 
Mary  of  York,  to  his  nephew,  William  of  Orange,  Stadtholder  of 
Holland,  the  archenemy  of  Louis.' 

453.  Louis  makes  Peace,  1678;  “Popish  Plot,”  1678;  Parlia¬ 
ment  Dissolved,  1679.  —  Louis  XIV,  disgusted  by  the  duplicity 
of  Charles,  and  distrustful  of  him,  made  a  peace  with  his  en'emies 
(Peace  of  Nimeguen,  1678).  He  began  to  bribe  the  opposition 
in  Parliament  and  made  known  the  character  of  the  secret  deal¬ 
ings  that  he  had  had  with  Charles.  During  the  negotiations  be¬ 
tween  Louis  and  Charles,  Danby,  at  the  command  of  Charles,  had 
written  a  letter  to  Louis  asking  him  for  money.  This  correspond¬ 
ence  was  published  and  led  to  the  impeachment  of  Danby. 

Just  at  this  time  an  ex-clergyman,  Titus  Oates,  announced 
that  he  had  intelligence  of  the  existence  of  a  plot  to  assassinate 
the  king  and  restore  Catholic  rule.  The  intrigues  which  had 
come  to  light  and  the  general  fear  of  Catholicism  caused  the 

1  As  has  been  seen  above,  Mary  was  at  the  time  the  next  heir  (§  451,  note)  to 
the  English  throne  after  James.  She  and  her  husband  afterwards  came  to  the 
throne  as  William  and  Mary. 


HABEAS  CORPUS  ACT 


369 


leality  of  the  plot  to  be  believed,  in  spite  of  its  improbability  and 
of  the  fact  that  Oates  had  a  very  bad  record  showing  him  to  be 
totally  untrustworthy.  Informers  abounded,  and  many  innocent 
Catholics  suffered  imprisonment  and  death.  Parliament  passed 
an  act  disabling  Catholics  from  sitting  in  Parliament,  and 
five  Catholic  peers  were  impeached.'  Charles,  to  save  Danby, 
dissolved  Parliament  (1679).  It  had  been  chosen  in  1661  and 
thus,  with  the  single  exception  of  the  famous  Long  Parliament 
(§  380),  is  the  longest  Parliament  in  English  history. 

454.  Habeas  Corpus  Act,  1679;  Exclusion  Act.  —  The  new 
Parliament  (March,  1679)  violently  Protestant.  Two  measures 
especially  engaged  its  attention  :  (i)  a  Habeas  Corpus  Act  ^  for 
the  protection  of  persons  accused  of  crime.  This  act  Charles 
signed  with  reluctance.  (2)  A  bill  for  the  exclusion  of  James 
from  the  succession  to  the  crown,  on  the  ground  of  his  being  a 
Catholic.  The  Commons  passed  such  a  bill,  but  before  it  was  acted 
upon  by  the  Lords,  Charles,  to  gain  time,  dissolved  Parliament. 

455.  “Petitioners  and  Abhorrers ;  ”  Whig  and  Tory;  High 
Church  and  Low  Church.  —  Another  Parliament  was  chosen  (Oc¬ 
tober,  1679),  Charles  dared  not  allow  it  to  meet.  About  this 
time  the  people  began  to  divide  into  two  parties,  the  one  favor¬ 
ing  the  exclusion  bill  and  hence  the  meeting  of  Parliament ;  and 
the  other  defending  the  king’s  prerogative  to  call  Parliament 
or  not  as  he  pleased.  The  adherents  of  the  former  were  called 
“  Petitioners,”  because  they  sent  petitions  for  the  meeting  of  Par¬ 
liament,  and  the  others  “Abhorrers,”  because  they  expressed  their 
abhorrence  of  the  petitions.  These  names  before  long  were  changed 
to  Whig  and  Tory,®  the  Whigs  being  those  who  supported  exclusion. 

1  Though  undoubtedly  false,  the  Oates  plot  had  lasting  results,  for  the  exclusion 
of  Catholics  from  Parliament  continued  till  1829,  one  hundred  and  fifty  years. 

2  By  this  act  accused  persons  were  secured  from  the  evasions  of  the  old  habeas 
corpus  requirements  (§  361,  note). 

3  Whig  was  a  name  which  had  been  applied  to  the  Covenanters  of  Scotland; 
Tory  was  a  name  taken  from  Irish  outlaws.  From  this  time  Whig  has  been  used 
to  indicate  those  who  advocate  liberal  measures,  and  Tory  those  who  are  essentially 
conservative  or  opposed  to  change. 


370 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


Two  other  terms  came  into  use  about  this  time  which  have  also 
come  down  to  our  times  with  comparatively  little  change  of  mean¬ 
ing.  The  strong  advocates  of  the  church  received  the  name  of 
the  High  Church  Party,  and  the  more  liberal  members  the  name 
of  Low  Church  Party.  The  Tories  were  practically  all  High 
Churchmen,  and  the  AVhigs,  Low  Churchmen. 

456.  Scotland,  1679;  Duke  of  Monmouth.  —  The  administra¬ 
tion  of  Scotland  had  roused  much  ill-feeling.  The  Covenanters 
had  murdered  Archbishop  Sharp  (§  440)  and  a  revolt  broke 
out.  The  Duke  of  Monmouth,'  sent  to  put  this  down,  was  suc¬ 
cessful,  and  then  treated  the  rebels  with  much  clemency ;  but  the 
Duke  of  York,  who  was  sent  as  Lord  High  Commissioner,  ex¬ 
ercised  great  severity,  using  torture  to  extract  information  against 
the  rebels.  Shaftesbury,  to  carry  out  his  own  plans,  began  to  use 
Monmouth,  who  was  now  spoken  of  as  a  possible  heir  to  the  throne. 

457.  Oxford  Parliament.  1680.  —  At  last,  a  year  after  it  was 
chosen,  Charles  called  the  Parliament  elected  in  1679  to  meet  at 
Oxford.  The  temper  of  this  Parliament  was  similar  to  that  of  the 
preceding  one.  A  new  Exclusion  Bill  was  hurried  through  the 
Commons,  but,  by  the  efforts  of  the  Marquis  of  Halifax,  defeated 
in  the  Lords.  The  Commons  on  this  refused  to  pass  any  money 
bill  unless  the  Exclusion  Bill  was  first  enacted.  Halifax  was  im¬ 
peached,  and  Lord  Stafford,  one  of  the  Catholic  peers  accused  by 
Oates,  was  tried  and  executed.-  Charles  had  no  recourse  but  to 
dissolve  Parliament.  As  money  was  a  necessity,  the  king  resolved 
to  make  an  attempt  to  secure  a  more  tractable  Parliament,  and 
another  election  took  place,  and  the  new  Parliament,  like  the  pre¬ 
vious  one,  was  called  to  meet  at  Oxford. 

458.  Charles’s  Fifth  Parliament,  1681  ;  Personal  Rule,  1681- 
1685.  —  Parliament,  still  bent  on  an  Exclusion  Bill,  believed 
that,  as  Charles  was  greatly  in  need  of  money,  they  controlled  the 
situation.  But  Louis  XIV,  having  got  all  he  wished  from  the  Whigs, 

1  Monmouth  was  one  of  the  many  illegitimate  children  of  Charles. 

2  The  charge  was  almost  without  question  a  false  one. 


PERIOD  OF  PERSONAL  RULE 


371 


turned  again  to  Charles  as  the  better  tool.  A  verbal  treaty  had 
been  made  through  the  French  ambassador  by  which  a  three  years’ 
supply  of  funds  had  been  promised  Charles.  He  was  now  free  to 
carry  out  his  plans.  After 
Parliament  had  been  in 


session  only  a  week  he 
suddenly  appeared  in  the 
Houseof  Lords,  summoned 
the  Commons  to  meet  him, 
and  forthwith  dissolved 


Silver  Crown  op  Charles  II 


Parliament.  No  other  Par¬ 
liament  was  called  during  his  reign,  and  the  Tories  had  complete 
control.  This  period  has  been  called  the  “  second  Stuart  tyranny.” 

459.  Attacks  on  Town  Charters.  —  Charles  and  the  Tory  Party 
at  once  began  to  put  into  force  the  old  Clarendon  Code  (§  437), 
and  Dissenters  were  persecuted  even  more  severely  than  they 
had  been  under  the  Cavalier  Parliament  (§  436).  Shaftesbury,  a 
special  object  of  hatred  to  the  king,  was  accused  of  high  treason, 
but  before  he  could  be  legally  tried,  the  Grand  Jury  of  Middlesex 
(his  place  of  residence)  had  to  find  a  true  bill  against  him.  But 
as  London  and  Middlesex  juries  were  strongly  Whig,  there  was  no 
hope  of  an  indictment.  By  what  is  known  as  a  Writ  of  Quo 
Warranto  the  city  of  London  was  accused  of  certain  irregularities 
and  its  charter  was  taken  away ;  the  king  took  upon  himself  the  ap¬ 
pointment  of  a  Lord  Mayor  and  other  officers,  and  thus  obtained 
control.  Other  cities  and  towns  were  treated  in  the  same  way, 
and  still  others  resigned  their  charters,  hoping  to  make  better  terms 
with  the  king.  In  all  there  were  sixty-six  cities  and  towns  whose 
charters  were  thus  forfeited  or  remodeled.  Meanwhile  Shaftes¬ 
bury  escaped  to  Holland  and  died  in  exile  (1683). 

460.  Rye  House  Plot,  1683;  Execution  of  Russell  and 
Sidney,  1683.  —  A  new  plot  now  startled  the  country.  Some  of 
the  more  violent  of  the  Whig  party  formed  a  plot  to  attack  both 
the  king  and  James  at  a  place  called  the  Rye  House,  on  their  way 


372 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


back  from  the  Newmarket  races,  and  seize  or  murder  them. 
Charles  returned  earlier  than  was  looked  for  and  so  escaped.  The 
plot  was  revealed  by  one  of  the  conspirators.  Among  those  seized 
were  Lord  William  Russell,  Essex,  and  Algernon  Sidney.  Russell 
and  Sidney  were  convicted  on  scanty  evidence,  and  were  executed. 
Essex,  found  dead  in  the  Tower,  is  supposed  to  have  committed 
suicide.  At  these  unjust  trials  Judge  Jeffreys*  became  prominent, 
and  his  career  earned  for  him  the  title  of  the  “  infamous  judge.” 

461.  Charles  defies  the  Laws;  His  Death,  1685.  —  The  effect 
of  the  Rye  House  Plot  was  to  increase  the  power  of  the  crown 
and  to  make  Charles  popular.  He  now  dared  openly  to  disre¬ 
gard  the  laws  :  by  neglecting  to  call  a  Parliament,  though  more 
than  three  years  had  elapsed  since  the  dissolution  of  the  preceding 
one ;  by  restoring  the  Duke  of  York  to  the  Council  in  defiance  of 
the  Test  Act;  and  by  releasing  Danby  from  the  Tower  (§  453). 

Shortly  after  this  Charles  was  seized  with  apoplexy,  and  in  four 
days  died.  Before  his  death  he  acknowledged  himself  a  Catholic 
and  was  admitted  to  that  church.  So  strongly  were  the  Tories 
intrenched  that  James,  Duke  of  York,  brother  of  Charles,  suc¬ 
ceeded  to  the  throne  without  opposition. 

462.  James  II,  1685.  —  James  was  fifty-two  years  old.  He 
had  had  considerable  experience  in  administration  and  was 
businesslike  in  his  habits.  He  resembled  his  father  in  his  belief 
in  the  divine  right  of  kings,  in  his  obstinacy,  tenacity  of  purpose, 
and  inability  to  see  any  side  of  a  question  but  his  own.  So 
far  as  his  mental  ability  may  be  judged  from  results,  it  was 
much  below  that  of  Charles.  Like  Charles,  he  was  extremely 
immoral.  He  came  to  the  throne  under  favorable  circumstances, 
the  Tories  being  in  full  power  and  the  nation  inclined  to  give  him 
a  fair  trial.  He  had  only  himself  to  blame  for  the  fact  that  his 
reign  lasted  only  three  years. 

One?  of  his  first  acts  was  to  allow  the  celebration  of  the  mass 

’  It  is  said  of  him  that  “  as  a  criminal  judge  he  was  undoubtedly  the  worst  that 
ever  disgraced  the  bench." 


REIGN  OF  JAMES  II 


373 


in  the  royal  chapel ;  another  was  to  collect  the  customs  duties 
before  they  were,  granted  by  Parliament.  As  he  had  issued  writs 
for  a  new  Parliament,  these  matters  did  not  excite  the  comment 
which  they  might  otherwise  have  done.  He  desired  above  all 
things  to  be  free  from  the  control  of  Parliament,  and  to  reestab¬ 
lish  the  Catholic  religion ;  but  fearing  that  Parliament  might 
not  be  in  accord  with  his  wishes,  he  followed  the  example  of 
Charles  and  secured  a  promise  of  aid  from  Louis  if  Parliament 
should  be  contrary.  But  Parliament  met,  having  a  large  Tory 
majority,  and  granted  James  for  life  not  only  the  revenue  given 
Charles  but  ^500,000  in  addition. 

463.  Scotland,  1685;  Argyll’s  Attempt,  1685. — The  Scot¬ 
tish  Parliament  had  also  met,  but,  as  only  Episcopalians  could  sit 
in  it,  and  those  represented  but  a  small  part  of  the  population,  the 
legislation  was  not  in  accord  with  the  wishes  of  the  majority  of  the 
people.  This  Parliament,  as  strongly  Tory  as  was  the  English  one, 
avowed  its  belief  in  the  divine  right  of  kings  and  passed  laws  against 
the  Covenanters  even  more  bitter  than  those  which  had  been  in 
force.  To  give  or  take  the  Covenanters’  oath  was  made  treason ;  it 
was  also  enacted  that,  “All  persons,  preachers,  or  hearers,  proved  to 
have  been  present  at  a  conventicle  were  henceforth  to  be  punished 
by  death  and  confiscation.”  This  went  beyond  the  English  laws. 

It  was  not  long  before  serious  attempts  to  overthrow  the  new 
king  were  made  both  in  Scotland  and  in  England.  Holland  was 
the  great  resort  of  refugees  from  England  and  Scotland.  Here 
Argyll  was  the  chief  among  the  Scottish  refugees,  and  Monmouth, 
the  illegitimate  son  of  Charles,  among  the  English.  Argyll  was 
the  son  of  that  Argyll  who  had  suffered  death  in  the  early  days  of 
the  Restoration  (§  440).  A  simultaneous  attempt  at  insurrection 
in  England  and  Scotland  was  planned,  Argyll  to  lead  the  Scottish 
and  Monmouth  the  English  rising.  Argyll,  disappointed  in  not 
receiving  the  expected  support,  was  soon  captured  and  was  exe¬ 
cuted  without  trial  (1685),  under  an  old  bill  of  attainder  which 
had  been  passed  against  him  (1681). 


374 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


464.  Monmouth’s  Attempt.  1685.  —  Monmouth  landed  in 
June,  1685,  at  Lyme  Regis,  Dorsetshire,  declaring  himself  the 
legal  successor  of  Charles  II.  He  soon  gathered  about  five 
thousand  men  who  enthusiastically  supported  him  as  the  Prot¬ 
estant  defender  of  England.  He  was  proclaimed  king  at  Taun¬ 
ton.  Monmouth,  however,  gained  no  recruits  from  the  gentry  or 
nobility,  which  of  itself  was  fatal  to  his  cause.  Though  he 
marched  to  Bath  and  Bristol,  neither  of  these  towns  would  receive 
him.  The  king  had  meanwhile  sent  an  army  under  Lord  Fever- 
sham  and  Lord  Churchill.'  Monmouth  attempted  a  surprise  at 
Sedgemoor,  near  Bridgewater,  but  was  defeated  (July  6,  1685). 
This  was  the  last  battle  fought  on  English  soil.  He  was  captured, 
taken  to  London,  and  executed  (July  15)  under  a  Bill  of  Attain¬ 
der  which  Parliament  had  already  passed. 

465.  Treatment  of  the  Rebels ;  Judge  Jeffreys.  —  The  treat¬ 
ment  of  the  rebels  was  vindictive  and  cruel  in  the  extreme,  and 
the  months  following  the  Monmouth  rebellion  have  a  record 
unmatched  in  English  history.  A  large  number  of  his  followers 
were  hanged  by  the  command  of  one  Colonel  Kirke.  He  was 
followed  by  a  commission  of  judges  headed  by  Jeffreys.  This 
series  of  trials  is  known  by  the  name  of  the  “  Bloody  Assize.”  ^ 
During  its  continuance,  in  addition  to  the  executions  by  order  of 
Kirke,  more  than  300  persons  were  put  to  death,®  and  over  800 
sold  to  the  West  India  plantations.  Besides  the  executions  an 
immense  amount  of  plunder  was  secured.  The  demeanor  of 
Jeffreys  on  the  bench  toward  the  unfortunate  accused  was  brutal. 
“  He  shouted,  swore,  and  laughed  over  his  victims,”  taunting 
them,  and  treating  them  savagely.  On  his  return  to  London  he 
was  rewarded  by  being  appointed  Lord  High  Chancellor. 

466.  Effects  of  the  Monmouth  Rebellion  ;  Course  of  James.  — 
The  crushing  of  the  Monmouth  rebellion  and  the  punishment  of 

1  John,  Lord  Churchill,  afterwards  the  Duke  of  Marlborough,  England's  greatest 
general.  2  Assize,  the  sitting  of  the  courts  to  try  cases. 

8  For  more  than  fifty  years  death  had  been  considered  as  the  punishment  for 
leaders  only.  James  returned  to  the  practice  of  Henry  VIII  and  Elizabeth. 


THE  “BLOODY  ASSIZE 


375 


the  rebels  had  some  important  effects.  First,  it  showed  the  power 
of  a  standing  army,  and  the  hopelessness  of  resistance  by  untrained 
men  ;  secondly,  it  united  most  of  the  Protestants,  the  Whig  refu¬ 
gees,  and  the  Whig  party  in  favor  of  William,  Prince  of  Orange, 
and  his  wife,  the  Princess  Mary ;  thirdly,  it  caused  James  to  rely  on 
his  army  ;  and  finally,  it  helped  to  bring  about  the  loss  of  his  crown. 

James,  believing  himself  secure,  immediately  set  about  restoring 
Catholicism.  Officers  of  the  state  and  of  the  army  whose  loyalty 
he  doubted  were  replaced,  as  far  as  practicable,  by  Catholics  or 
those  who  would  support  the  king.  Parliament  was  not  in  as 
complaisant  a  mood  as  before,  and  refused  to  alter  the  Test  Act 
(§  451)  or  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act  (§  454),  though  it  offered  to 
make  a  liberal  grant  for  the  army.  James  thereupon  prorogued 
Parliament,  and  it  did  not  meet  again  during  his  reign. 

467.  James  attempts  Despotic  Rule.  1687.  —  James  not  only 
attempted  to  rule  without  a  Parliament,  but  fell  back  on  the  dis¬ 
pensing  power  of  the  crown,  as  Charles  II  had  done.  By  changing 
the  judges  on  the  bench  he  managed  to  get  a  decision  confirming 
this  power  to  the  king.  He  appointed  Catholics  to  various  posts 
of  authority  and  influence ;  he  required  the  heads  of  Magdalen 
College,  Oxford,  to  appoint  a  Catholic  to  be  their  president ;  he 
constituted,  though  under  a  slightly  different  name,  a  new  Court 
of  High  Commission,  introduced  Catholics  into  the  Privy  Council, 
and  received  a  Papal  Nuncio  at  court.  He  had  already  striven 
to  conciliate  Ireland  so  that  he  might  have  help  from  that  island. 

His  course  became  so  unpopular  that  he  began  to  curry  favor 
with  the  Dissenters,  by  issuing  Declarations  of  Indulgence.  By 
these  documents  (1687-1688)  he,  by  royal  authority,  suspended 
all  laws  against  Catholics  and  Dissenters.  Contrary  to  his  expec¬ 
tations,  this  act  had  a  rather  cool  reception  even  among  those 
whom  personally  it  benefited  most.  For  they  saw  clearly  that  James 
gave  them  liberty  from  prison  and  freedom  for  worship  chiefly 
because  thereby  he  hoped  to  gain  their  support.  Still,  “  the 
prisons  were  opened  to  thousands  of  the  best  men  in  England- 


376 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


and  everywhere  public  worship  was  freely  resumed  by  congrega¬ 
tions  who  have  never  since  been  forced  to  close  their  doors,”  for 
no  party  that  has  since  been  in  power  has  dared  to  reenact  or 
enforce  “  conventicle  acts  ”  or  the  like. 

468.  Trial  of  the  Seven  Bishops,  1688;  Birth  of  James’s 
Son,  1688.  —  The  second  Declaration  of  Indulgence  was  com¬ 
manded  by  James  to  be  read  in  all  churches  on  two  Sundays  in 
June  (1688).  This  at  once  aroused  opposition,  and  six  bishops, 
with  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  petitioned  James  against  the 
Declaration,  This  proceeding  he  treated  as  a  seditious  libel,  and 
ordered  the  seven  prelates  to  be  prosecuted  on  this  charge. 
This  action  united  all  Protestants  in  support  of  the  bishops.  Had 
not  James  been  blindly  obstinate,  he  would  have  recognized  the 
danger  of  thus  proceeding  against  those  supported  by  public 
opinion,  but  an  event  took  place  at  this  time  which  encouraged 
him  to  go  on  —  the  birth  of  a  son.  This  child  now  became  the 
legal  heir  to  the  crown.'  Up  to  this  time  many  had  been  willing 
to  endure  James  because  he  was  past  middle  life,  and  his  heir, 
Mary  of  Orange,  was  Protestant.  The  whole  aspect  of  affairs  at 
once  was  changed. 

James  insisted  on  the  continuance  of  the  prosecution  of  the  bish¬ 
ops.  The  jury  rendered  a  verdict  of  acquittal  (June  30)  and 
London  went  wild  with  joy,  and  even  the  soldiers,  upon  whom 
James  depended,  cheered  in  their  quarters  on  Hounslow  Heath. 

469.  Invitation  to  William  of  Orange;  William  lands  at  Tor 
Bay.  1688.- — -On  the  same  day  as  the  acquittal  of  the  bishops, 
seven  prominent  men  of  the  kingdom  ^  sent  an  urgent  message 
to  William  of  Orange,  asking  him  to  come  to  England  and  save 
the  country.  These  represented  all  parties,  but  of  course  the 
Whigs  were  in  the  majority.  Besides  this,  William  received 

1  By  the  general  law  of  succession  a  son  takes  precedence  of  his  elder  sisters. 

2  The  seven  signers  were  the  Earl  of  Devonshire,  Henry  Sidney  (brother  of 
Algernon  Sidney  (§  460)),  Admiral  Russell,  and  Shrewsbury,  all  Whigs;  Compton, 
Bishop  of  London,  a  “  trimmer,"  Danby,  a  former  champion  of  the  royal  preroga¬ 
tive  (§  452) ;  and  Lumley,  who  had  been  a  Catholic. 


WILLIAM  OF  ORANGE 


377 


assurances  of  support  from  various  persons  still  in  the  king’s 
service,  among  them  Lord  Churchill  (§  464)  and  several  other 
officers  of  the  army.  Having  such  a  strong  support,  William  gath¬ 
ered  a  force  to  take  with  him  to  England  and  secure  the  throne. 


Release  of  the  Seven  Bishops 


He  landed  at  Tor  Bay  November  5,  1688,  not  far  from  where 
Monmouth  had  landed  (§  464).  He  brought  his  Dutch  and  other 
troops  with  him,  numbering  about  15,000.  At  once  all  England 
deserted  James.  It  was  useless  to  attempt  resistance,  and 
James,  who  had  accompanied  the  army,  returned  to  London 
to  learn  that  his  other  daughter,  Anne,  and  her  husband.  Prince 
George  of  Denmark,  had  also  deserted  his  cause,  and  that  Churchill, 
the  commander  of  the  army,  had  joined  forces  with  the  invader. 


378 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


470.  Flight  of  James.  1688.  — James,  now  ready  to  do  any¬ 
thing  to  save  his  crown,  agreed  to  call  a  Parliament,  and  appointed 
a  commission  to  negotiate  with  William.  But  fearing  the  result 
of  the  conference,  he  sent  his  wife  and  infant  son  to  France  and 
sought  safety  himself  in  flight,  having  destroyed  the  writs  for  a  new 
Parliament,  and  thrown  the  Great  Seal  of  the  Kingdom  into  the 
Thames.  He  was  captured  by  some  sailors  and  brought  back. 
His  presence  greatly  complicated  affairs,  and  William  made  it  easy 
for  him  to  escape  again.  The  fact  of  his  flight  rendered  it  possible 
to  say  that  he  had  abdicated  the  throne,  thus  removing  the  scruples 
of  some  who,  while  quite  ready  to  support  William,  could  not  con¬ 
scientiously  do  so  as  long  as  James  was  in  England  and  nominally 
on  the  throne.  James’s  own  blunders  and  folly  made  the  way 
much  easier  for  his  downfall. 

471.  Difficulties  before  William,  1688;  Convention  Parlia¬ 
ment.  1689.  — The  position  of  William  was  by  no  means  an  easy 
one.  He  had  published  a  declaration  before  leaving  Holland  that 
he  would  restore  the  liberties  of  England,  and  that  he  would  abide 
by  the  decision  of  a  freely  elected  Parliament.  To  assume  the 
throne  by  conquest  would  not  be  in  accord  with  his  declaration, 
and  might  raise  up  a  host  of  enemies.  After  consulting  w'ith  some 
of  the  leading  men  it  was  concluded  to  follow  the  example  of  Monk 
in  1660,  and  call  a  Convention  Parliament  (§  430).  It  met  in 
Januar)',  1689,  with  a  Whig  majority,  though  there  were  Tories  in 
the  Commons  and  among  the  Lords  who  were  reluctant  to  give  up 
the  divine  right  of  kings.  Two  resolutions  were  passed.  First, 
that  James  had  broken  the  original  contract  between  king  and 
people  by  his  conduct,  and  that  having  withdrawn  himself  from  the 
kingdom  had  abdicated  the  government  and  left  the  throne  vacant. 
Secondly,  that  it  was  “  not  consistent  either  with  the  safety  or 
welfare  of  the  kingdom  to  be  governed  by  a  popish  prince.”  ^ 

iThe  first  of  these  resolutions  pleased  the' Whigs  because  it  made  James's  dep¬ 
osition  depend  on  his  breaking  the  laws,  and  the  Tories,  because  it  declared  the 
throne  vacant  by  his  own  act,  thereby  relieving  them  from  the  charge  of  denying 
their  old  principle  of  divine  right. 


THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1688 


379 


472.  The  Revolution  of  1688.  —  William  and  Mary  refused  any 
plan  of  government  which  did  not  give  equal  power  to  each. 
This  forced  Parliament  to  accept  the  Whig  doctrine  that  in  Parlia¬ 
ment,  as  representing  the  people,  lay  the  right  to  decide  who 
should  reign  in  England.  This  was  the  real  revolution  of  1688,  if 
such  it  may  be  called.  It  was  then  concluded  to  offer  the  crown 
to  William  and  Mary  as  joint  sovereigns ;  William  to  administer 
the  government  during  his  lifetime,  Mary  to  succeed  should  she 
survive  him.'  The  Whigs  had  no  intention  of  repeating  the  ex¬ 
perience  of  1660,  and  so  a  Declaration  of  Right  was  drawn  up  as 
a  statement  of  what  was  considered  to  be  the  law  of  the  kingdom.^ 

This  document  was  accepted  by  the  Parliament  and  by  William 
and  Mary,  who  were  proclaimed  together,  February  13,  1689.  As 
the  change  of  rulers  was  accomplished  without  bloodshed  it  bears  the 
name  of  the  “  bloodless  revolution,”  and  the  “glorious  revolution.” 

Strictly  speaking,  it  was  not  a  revolution  at  all,  for  it  made  no 
change  in  the  form  of  government,  which  was  still  that  of  King, 
Lords,  and  Commons.  It  did,  however,  change  the  theory  of  that 
government,  which  no  longer  was  by  divine  right,  but  by  the  will  of 
the  people  as  expressed  by  Parliament.  It  formed  a  precedent 
by  which  any  future  Parliament  could  change  rulers  who  were 
not  acceptable. 

References.  —  Green,  Short  History,  chap,  ix,  §§  1-6  ;  Gardiner, 
Student's  History,  chaps,  xxxvii-xli ;  Terry,  History,  Part  III,  Book  III, 
chaps,  vi-viii  ;  Tout,  Advanced  History,  Book  VI,  chaps,  iv-v  ;  Gardiner, 
Puritan  Revolution,  chap,  x,  §§  3-6  ;  Traill,  Social  England,  vol.  IV, 
chap.  XV  ;  Adams  and  Stephens,  Select  Documents,  §§  222-234  ;  Cheyney, 
Readings,  chap,  xvi  ;  Colby,  Selections,  §§  77,  78,  81  ;  Kendall,  Source- 
Book,  §§  90-101  ;  Lee,  Source- Book,  §§  175-188. 

1  The  succession  was  to  go  to  their  children  if  they  had  any  ;  if  not,  then  to 
Mary’s  sister  Anne  and  her  children,  and  then  to  any  children  of  William  by  a 
second  wife,  should  he  survive  Mary  and  marry  again.  William  was  at  this  time 
thirty-eight,  and  Mary  twenty-six. 

2  There  were,  in  fact,  some  new  principles  laid  down  in  the  Declaration  of  Right, 
as  the  illegality  of  the  suspending  or  dispensing  power  of  a  Court  of  Ecclesiastical 
Commission,  etc. 


CHAPTER  XXII 


ENGLAND  AT  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  SEVENTEENTH 
CENTURY 

473.  Population  ;  Agriculture ;  The  Towns.  — The  population 
of  England  at  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century  was  about  five 
and  one  half  millions^  and  of  these  about  four  fifths  lived  in  the 
country.  With  so  small  a  population  it  followed  that  much  of  the 
land  was  unoccupied,  and  forests,  marshes,  and  fens  abounded. 
But  the  general  prosperity  of  the  later  years  of  the  century  led  to 
the  draining  of  marshes  and  fens  and  to  increasing  the  amount 
of  land  devoted  to  agriculture  and  grazing,  but  in  methods  there 
was  little  improvement.  The  Poor  Laws  of  Elizabeth  (§  301) 
were  modified  to  some  extent,  but  vagrancy  and  pauperism  re¬ 
mained  a  great  evil. 

Town  life  was  much  as  it  had  been,  but  there  was  considerable 
increase  in  the  style  and  the  comforts  of  living.  London  even 
then  was  the  largest  city  in  Europe,  with  a  population  of  about 
500,000.  London  Bridge  was  the  only  bridge  across  the  Thames, 
the  streets  were  ill  paved,  not  lighted  at  night  until  1682,  and  then 
only  in  winter.  The  police  force  was  small  and  inadequate,  and 
many  robberies  and  abductions  took  place.  The  clubhouses  of 
the  day  and  the  great  lounging  places,  where  news  was  discussed 
and  gossip  spread  abroad,  were  the  coffeehouses.  Sanitary  con¬ 
ditions,  as  in  all  cities  and  towns  and  indeed  everywhere,  were  in  a 
deplorable  state.  There  were  no  sewers,  heaps  of  offal  often  ren¬ 
dered  the  air  foul,  and  the  public  squares  were  used  as  dumping 
ground?  for  all  kinds  of  refuse. 

*  This  is  considerably  less  than  the  population  of  “  Greater  London  "in  1911, 
which  was  7,252,963. 


380 


SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY  ENGLAND 


The  condition  of  the  jails  and  houses  of  correction  was  such  as 
to  be  almost  unbelievable,  and  in  consequence  deaths  from  jail 
fever  and  exposure  were  frightfully  common. 

Outside  of  London,  whose  great  and  rapidly  increasing  size  was 
a  cause  of  much  apprehension  to  thoughtful  men,  the  only  large 
towns  were  Bristol  and  Norwich,  which  numbered  each  perhaps 
20,000  or  less.  Manchester,  Leeds,  Birmingham,  and  Sheffield 
were  all  small ;  Leeds,  the  largest,  having  but  about  7000  inhab¬ 
itants.  The  northern  counties  were  still  sparsely  settled. 


Coach  and  Sedan  Chair 
After  title-page  of  tract,  Coach  and  Sedan,  1636 


474.  Travel;  Letter  Post;  News.  —  Owing  to  the  badness  of 
the  roads  traveling  was  difficult.  On  important  routes,  from 
London  to  York,  for  example,  there  were  “  stage  wagons  ”  which 
carried  light  goods  and  passengers.  These  vehicles  were  without 
springs,  and  a  ride  in  one  of  them  was  a  rough  experience.  A 
journey  from  London  to  York  in  four  days  was  considered  to  be 
making  good  time.'  The  wealthy  traveled  in  their  own  coaches 
or  on  horseback.  The  roads,  moreover,  were  infested  with  high¬ 
waymen,  and  robberies  and  even  murders  were  frequent.  The 
inns  were,  for  the  time,  good,  attractive,  and  comfortable,  far 
more  so  than  many  private  dwellings. 

Postal  service  was  poor,  and  in  many  places  letters  were  delivered 
only  once  a  week.  Newspapers  in  the  modern  sense  did  not  ex¬ 
ist.  The  chief  paper  was  the  London  Gazette,  but  it  contained 

■  “  In  1669  a  Flying  Coach  left  Oxford  at  six  in  the  morning,  and  reached  Lon* 
don  at  seven  the  same  evening  —  fifty-five  miles  in  thirteen  hours.” 


382 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


very  little  intelligence.  What  was  called  the  News  Letter  was 
more  interesting.  This  printed  the  gossip  of  the  coffeehouses 
and  of  London,  and  appeared  usually  once  a  week.  It  was  sent 
into  the  country,  and  aside  from  private  sources  was  the  sole 
means  of  learning  what  was  going  on. 


A  Potter  A  Tailor 

After  Comenius’s  Orhm  Pictus,  English  edition,  1659 


475.  Trade ;  Manufactures  ;  Minerals.  —  Domestic  trade  was 
considerable,  but  as  the  roads  were  bad,  and  canals  had  not  been 
introduced,  inland  communication  was  necessarily  by  means  of 
pack  horses.  There  may  still  be  seen  in  the  north  of  England 
bridges  built  for  the  accommodation  of  such  traffic,  and  afterwards 
widened  for  the  use  of  wheeled  vehicles.  When  not  sent  inland, 
goods  were  forwarded  by  coastwise  vessels. 

T  he  foreign  trade  was  extensive  and  was  chiefly  carried  on 
from  London  and  Bristol.  Then,  as  now,  London  was  the  great 
shipping  center  of  Europe. 

Manufactures  were  backward.  Almost  all  fine  goods  were 
imported.  The  chief  domestic  manufacture  was  that  of  wool, 
but  other  industries  were  springing  up  and  were  fostered  by 
laws  which  at  present  seem  very  far  from  being  based  upon 
true  economic  principles.  The  use  of  some  fabrics  was  entirely 
prohibited,  and  the  manufacture  or  importation  of  other  goods 
supposed  to  be  injurious  to  the  established  manufactures  was 
forbidden.  The  silk  trade,  which  had  existed  from  very  early 


INDUSTRIAL  LIFE 


383 


times,  was  greatly  increased  by  the  French  refugees  after  the 
revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  1685. 

There  were  no  large  textile  mills,  but  spinning  and  weaving 
were  carried  on  in  the  homes  of  the  operatives,  and  from  them 
the  fabrics  went  to  the  fullers  who  dressed  the  goods,  and  then 
to  the  dyers.  The  great  mineral 
deposits,  which  at  a  later  day 
made  England  so  rich,  were  un¬ 
developed,  and  the  greater  part 
of  the  steel  and  iron  used  was 
imported.  Coal  had  not  come 
into  general  use,  wood  being  the 
chief  fuel  employed. 

476.  The  Classes.  —  At  the 
restoration  the  nobility  regained 
their  old  influence  and  power. 

The  clergy,  even  of  the  Estab¬ 
lished  Church,  were  miserably  paid  and  in  the  country  were  prac¬ 
tically  dependent  on  the  good  will  of  the  gentry. 

Below  the  gentry  came  the  yeomen  or  small  farmers.  These 
were  sturdy  individuals,  and  often  very  independent.  Lower  than 
these  were  the  laborers.  These  had  no  political  or  civil  power, 
and,  owing  to  the  Poor  Laws,  which  had  come  down  from  the  time 
of  Elizabeth,  and  to  what  is  known  as  the  Law  of  Settlement 
(1662),  were  practically  bound  to  the  soil.  The  man  who  was 
willing  and  even  anxious  for  work  was  not  allowed  to  seek  it 
outside  his  parish.  This  policy  greatly  increased  the  number 
of  paupers  who  had  to  be  supported.^  The  chief  employment  of 
the  laboring  class  was  agriculture  of  various  kinds,  including  the 
raising  of  great  quantities  of  sheep. 

477.  Social  Life.  —  Partly  owing  to  the  difficulty  of  communi¬ 
cation,  and  partly  from  habit,  the  country  gentlemen  spent  most 


An  English  Citizen  riding  with  his 
Wife 

After  a  print  of  1623-1625 


1  It  is  estimated  that  at  this  period  “  the  paupers  amounted  to  about  one  seventh 
of  the  community." 


384 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


of  their  time  in  the  country,  and  possibly  some  never  went 
to  London.  At  this  period  the  gentry  as  a  class  were  poorly 
educated  and  had  little  interest  in  anything  beyond  the  manage¬ 
ment  of  their  estates  and  in  hunting  and  the  like.^  At  the  same 
time,  as  they  were  the  local  magistrates  and  officers  of  the 
militia,  they  exercised  no  small  influence  on  the  country  at  large. 

Society  in  the  cities,  and  particularly  in  London,  underwent 
a  great  change  after  the  Restoration.  The  reaction  from  the 
Puritanism  of  the  Commonwealth  was  great.  The  loose  and 
licentious  manners  introduced  from  France  by  Charles  II  and  his 
court  are  beyond  description.  The  conversation  in  the  “salons,” 
at  court  entertainments,  and  on  the  boards  of  the  theaters  was 
such  as  cannot  even  be  named  nowadays.  At  the  same  time 
it  must  be  remembered  that  there  were  exceptions,  and  among 
the  clergy  and  others  there  were  not  a  few  men  and  women  of 
purity  of  life  and  noble  characteristics. 

478.  Dress.  —  The  dress  of  the  upper  classes,  e.specially  in 
London,  was  in  striking  contrast  with  that  during  the  Common¬ 
wealth,  for  bright  colors,  a  great  deal  of  ornament,  richly  laced 
cloaks  and  collars,  flowing  plumes,  silk  waistcoats  reaching  to  the 
calf  of  the  leg,  and  the  like  were  the  rule.  During  this  period 
was  introduced  the  curled  and  flowing  periwig  —  the  most  absurd 
of  the  fashions  of  the  day.  But  though  additional  hair  was  thought 
needful  for  the  top  of  the  head,  the  face  was  clean  shaven. 

The  dress  of  the  women  was,  perhaps,  relatively  less  extravagant 
than  that  of  the  men.  While  possibly  they  did  not  wear  periwigs 
to  the  same  extent  as  the  men,  these  were  common,  fair  hair  being 
the  fashion.  Fringes  of  curls  were  popular.  Black  patches  on  the 
face,  rouge,  and  cosmetics  were  greatly  in  vogue.  The  dress  of 
the  middle  and  lower  classes  was  generally  simple  and  appropriate. 

479.  Meals;  Amusements.  —  Meals  were  still  at  early  hours; 
ordinary  dinner  being  at  one  o’clock,  and  even  the  more  fashionable 

1  The  picture  Sir  Walter  Scott  gives  of  the  Osbaldistone  family  in  “  Rob  Roy,” 
though  it  is  of  a  later  date,  is  scarcely  an  exaggerated  one. 


SOCIAL  LIFE  AND  AMUSEMENTS 


385 


persons  kept  early  hours,  leaving  the  house  after  a  dinner-party  as 
early  as  seven  or  eight  o’clock.  Mercantile  business  began  at  six 
or  seven  a.m.,  and  to  rise  at  four  or  five  in  the  morning  was  not 
uncommon.  Forks  were  not  common,  and  the  table  manners 
would  be  considered  unbearable  now.  Drinking  was  universal, 
and  comparatively  little  water  was  used,  but  instead  wines,  ales, 
beer,,and  to  some  extent  tea,  coffee,  and  chocolate,  though  these 
last  three  were  of  recent  introduction.^  Even  the  children  were 
given  small  beer  in  preference  to  water. 

Among  the  upper  classes  particularly,  there  was  a  decided  reac¬ 
tion  from  the  later  Puritan  severity.  Cockfighting  and  bull  baiting 
were  attended  by  many,  though  held  to  be  rather  vulgar.  Theaters 
were  crowded,  and  the  plays  and  the  acting  were  of  such  a  char¬ 
acter  as  would  not  be  tolerated  at  the  present  time.  Cardplaying 
was  the  favorite  amusement  of  all,  and  gambling  was  carried  to 
great  extremes.  Billiards  were  popular,  masked  balls  and  enter¬ 
tainments  numerous ;  and  for  quieter  home  amusements  even  fine 
ladies  and  gentlemen  did  not  disdain  “  crambo,”  “  hunt  the 
slipper,”  “  blindman’s  buff,”  and  similar  games.  Horseracing, 
fencing,  boxing,  and  prize-fights  were  favorites  among  the  sporting 
class.  Tennis,  pell-mell  (a  game  of  ball),  bowls,  and  football 
were  common.  For  citizens  of  almost  all  classes,  pleasure  grounds, 
parks,  gardens,  bear-gardens,  were  a  great  source  of  recreation. 
In  the  country,  the  old  sports  were  still  common. 

Among  the  popular  attractions  were  public  executions.  These 
were  eagerly  attended  ;  on  the  occasion  of  an  execution  Tower 
Hill  was  crammed  with  lookers-on  (§  381),  while  windows  which 
commanded  a  close  view  of  the  scene  were  let  at  fabulous  prices. 

480.  Education.  —  Social  accomplishments  were  generally  con¬ 
sidered  of  more  importance  in  education  than  book  learning  :  the 
dancing  master  was  better  paid  than  the  schoolmaster.  The  ele¬ 
ments  of  education  were  usually  taught  at  home,  and  if  the 

1  Chocolate  was  advertised  as  a  new  beverage  in  1657,  tea  in  1658,  and  the  first 
coffeehouse  in  London  was  opened  in  1652. 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


386 

parents  were  well  off,  the  boy  was  sent  to  a  grammar  school  or  one 
of  the  schools  like  Winchester  or  Eton,  and  then  to  Oxford  or 
Cambridge.  For  all  who  could  afford  it,  travel  on  the  Continent 
under  a  tutor  was  regarded  as  the  finishing  touch  to  a  liberal  edu¬ 
cation,  and  frequently  this  was  given  instead  of  university  training. 


Oxford,  showing  Many  Seventeenth  Century  Buildings 

In  the  education  of  girls,  social  accomplishments  were  even  more 
important  than  was  the  case  with  the  boys.  Household  acquire¬ 
ments  were  held  in  high  esteem  among  the  more  sober  people, 
but  among  the  fashionable  set  or  “  women  of  quality  ”  dancing, 
painting,  music,  and  French  took  the  first  place.  The  children 
of  the  country  gentry  and  of  the  yeomen  had  a  meager  education, 
and  for  the  girls  a  training  in  household  duties  was  all-important. 

481.  Architecture.  —  There  was  very  little  change  in  architectural 
styles  until  about  1640,  when,  largely  through  the  influence  of 
Inigo  Jones,  the  Italian  or  classical  style  came  into  use  and  con¬ 
tinued  to  be  for  many  years  the  favorite  style  for  public  build¬ 
ings,  and  even  of  dwelling  houses.  But  the  great  exponent  of 
the  style  was  Sir  Christopher  Wren.  The  great  fire  of  London 
(§  445)  afforded  him  a  wonderful  opportunity,  and  to  his  genius  is 
due  the  great  St.  Paul’s  Cathedral  which  rose  on  the  ruins  of 


ARCHITECTURE,  LITERATURE,  AND  SCIENCE  387 


the  old,  and  remains  one  of  the  glories  of  London.*  In  addition 
to  this  great  work,  he  designed  fifty-two  churches  in  London. 
Many  of  them  are 
remarkable  for  the 
gracefulness  and 
fine  proportions  of 
their  spires. 

From  the  time 
of  Henry  VII  al¬ 
most  all  the  fine 
work  in  painting 
was  done  by  for¬ 
eign  artists.  Hol¬ 
bein,  of  the  time 
of  Henry  VHI, 
has  left  a  gallery 
of  portraits  of 
inestimable  value. 

Vandyck,  a  Fleming  of  the  time  of  Charles  I,  has  left  us  portraits 
of  that  monarch  and  of  distinguished  persons  of  the  reign,  remark¬ 
able  for  beauty  and  what  might  be  termed  poetic  touch.  Charles  I 
was  a  great  patron  of  art  and  made  a  valuable  collection  of  paint¬ 
ings.  Under  Cromwell  and  Charles  H,  Sir  Peter  Lely,  a  Hollander, 
was  the  great  portrait  painter. 

482.  Literature;  Science.  —  The  literature  of  the  seventeenth 
century  covers  so  many  fields  and  is  so  vast  that  little  can  be  done 
but  call  attention  to  this  fact.  The  literature  of  the  Elizabethan 
period  really  extended  far  into  the  reign  of  James,  and  there  is  no 
dividing  line.  The  drama  and  lyric  poetry,  both  secular  and  re¬ 
ligious,  abounded.  Ben  Jonson,  George  Chapman,  Fletcher, 
Ford,  Webster,  among  the  dramatists  ;  Herrick,  Herbert,  Crashaw, 

r  The  cathedral  is  the  third  in  size  in  Europe,  and  was  thirty-five  years  in  building. 
It  was  designed  and  built  under  one  architect,  one  master  mason,  and,  one  bishop. 
In  the  crypt  is  the  famous  inscription  above  the  tomb  of  Wren  (died,  1725)  ;  Si 
monumentum  requieris,  circumspice:  "  If  you  seek  his  monument,  look  around." 


\ 

A  Fine  Type  of  Seventeenth  Century  Architecture 


388 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


and  others,  among  the  lyrists,  —  lived  far  into  the  century.  Later 
(1608-1674),  John  Milton  gained  a  place  only  second  to  Shake¬ 
speare,  while  a  host  of 
graceful  lyrists  carried 
on  the  traditions  of  an 
earlier  day. 

Never  had  England 
had  such  a  wealth  of 
prose.  Bacon,  Sir 
Thomas  Browne, 
Hobbes,  f'uller, 
Jeremy  Taylor,  Walton, 
Bunyan,  Baxter,  and 
above  all,  for  style  and 
beauty  of  language,  the 
Authorized  English 
Version  of  the  Bible, 
issued  in  16 ii,  which 
more  than  any  other 
one  book  helped  to  keep  English  pure  and  simple. 

Closely  connected  with  literature  was  the  great  advance  of  sci¬ 
ence.  In  this  century  was  made  the  discovery  of  logarithms  by 
Napier,  and  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood  by  Harvey.  Bacon  in 
his  philosophical  works,  by  laying  the  emphasis  on  experience  and 
experiment,  exercised  a  lasting  influence  in  the  field  of  scientific 
investigation.  In  1662  the  Royal  Society,  founded  a  few  years 
earlier,  received  its  charter.  Among  its  founders  were  Sir  Chris¬ 
topher  Wren  and  Robert  Boyle,  the  chemist. 

References. — Traill,  Soda!  vol.  iv,  chaps,  xiii-xv;  Cheyney, /«- 

dustrial  and  Social  History,  chap,  vii  (in  part) ;  Tout,  Advanced  History, 
Book  vi,  chap,  v;  Macaulay,  History  of  England,  chap,  iii;  Cheyney,  Read¬ 
ings,  chap,  xvi,  §  2;  Colby,  Selections,  §§  68,  74,  75. 


John  Milton 


CHAPTER  XXIII 


•  GROWTH  OF  PARLIAMENT  AND  PARTY  GOVERNMENT 

483.  William  III  (1650-1702);  Mary  (1662-1694)  ;  1688. — 
William  was  cold  and  haughty  in  manner,  and  had  neither  the 
wish  nor  the  power  to  attract  a  personal  following.  He  had  been 
educated  in  the  school  of  extreme  Calvinism  and  had  no  sympathy 
with  episcopacy.  Though  he  never  was  popular  with  his  English 
subjects,  they  learned  to  respect  him.  He  was  much  helped  by 
Queen  Mary,  who  was  handsome,  winning  in  her  manner,  warm¬ 
hearted,  gentle,  and  of  irreproachable  private  character.  She 
was,  moreover,  though  broad  in  her  sympathies,  devoted  to  the 
Church  of  England. 

William  had  accepted  the  invitation  to  come  to  England  chiefly 
because  the  support  of  England  was  necessary  for  the  Protestant 
league  against  Louis  XIV.  He  loved  Holland  and  his  Dutchmen, 
and  endured  the  English.  He  was  courageous,  an  excellent 
general,  and  a  keen  and  far-sighted  statesman.  No  defeat  or  dis¬ 
aster  caused  him  to  yield  in  the  slightest  degree  in  his  struggle  to 
thwart  the  efforts  of  Louis  for  absolute  supremacy  in  Europe. 

484.  Early  Incidents  of  the  Reign;  Non-Jurors.  1690. — 
\Villiam,  as  he  had  been  put  on  the  throne  by  the  joint  action  of 
the  Whigs  and  Tories,  chose  his  ministers  of  state  from  both  parties. 

On  the  same  day  that  William  and  Mary  accepted  the  throne, 
the  Convention  Parliament  (§  471)  was  declared  to  be  a  true  Par¬ 
liament.  This  was  partly  on  account  of  the  risk  in  calling  a  new 
one,  and  partly  because  it  had  been  so  recently  chosen  that  it  was 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  it  represented  the  views  of  the  electors. 

Several  important  matters  claimed  the  attention  of  the  Parlia¬ 
ment.  (i)  A  new  oath  of  allegiance  and  supremacy  was  needed. 

389 


390 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


That  all  who  held  government  offices  should  take  the  oath  of 
allegiance  to  William  and  Mary  went'  without  saying,  but  in  the 
case  of  the  clergy  it  was  not  quite  so  clear.  William  being  a  non¬ 
churchman  wished  the  clergy  to  be  excepted,  but  the  majority  in 
Parliament  insisted,  and  so  all  clergymen  were  required  to  take  the 

oath  of  allegiance  to 
the  king  and  queen 
and  to  acknowledge 
them  as  heads  of  the 
Church  of  England. 
All  who  did  not  take 
these  oaths  by  Febru¬ 
ary,  1690,  were  to  be 
deprived  of  their 
benefices.  Arch¬ 
bishop  Sancroft  and 
seven  bishops  refused 
and  were  in  conse¬ 
quence  deprived  of 
their  offices  and 
others  appointed  in 
their  place.  About 
four  hundred  of  the 
clergy  following  their  example  were  dispossessed  of  their  livings. 
These  men  were  called  Non-Jurors,  and  formed  a  little  body  of 
their  own  which  lasted  for  a  century.^ 

485.  Bill  of  Rights;  Toleration  Act.  1689.  —  (2)  The 
Declaration  of  Right  (§472)  was  embodied  in  a  formal  Bill  of 
Rights.  This  bill  has  long  been  considered  as  one  of  the  bulwarks 
of  British  liberty.  (3)  A  Toleration  Act.  Though  not  by  any 
means  giving  religious  liberty,  this  act  was  a  vast  advance  on  any- 

1  Of  the  eight  ecclesiastics  the  Archbishop  and  four  of  the  bishops  were  of  the 
seven  who  had  refused  to  read  the  Declaration  of  James  (§  468).  They  held  to  the 
divine  right  of  succession  and  to  the  doctrine  of  passive  obedience,  both  of 
which  the  Revolution  had  overthrown. 


William  III 


WILLIAM  AND  MARY 


391 


thing  before  it.  Dissenters  were  still  deprived  of  many  privileges, 
and  the  laws  against  them  remained  on  the  statute  books,  the  pen¬ 
alties  only  having  been  removed.^ 

486.  Mutiny  Act,  1689;  Parliament  Dissolved,  1690;  Act  of 
Grace,  1690.  —  (4)  A  Mutiny  Act.  This  was  occasioned  by  a 
mutiny  in  the  army, 
soon  suppressed  by 
William’s  Dutch 
troops. 

A  bill  was  passed 
giving  the  king  power 
to  maintain  a  stand¬ 
ing  army  and  enforce 
martial  law,  but  re¬ 
stricting  this  latter 
power  to  six  months 
(afterwards  length¬ 
ened  to  one  year). 

This  meant  that  in 
order  to  keep  the 
army  together  a  new 
mutiny  act  must  be 
passed  by  Parliament 
every  year.  This  action  had  the  further  advantage  of  requiring 
annual  sessions  of  Parliament.  Thus  it  was  one  of  the  most 
important  bills  which  had  ever  been  passed.^ 


Queen  Mary 


1  it  was  many  years  before  Dissenters  were  allowed  to  hold  any  public  or  mili¬ 
tary  office  unless  they  partook  of  the  communion  according  to  the  usage  of  the 
Church  of  England;  and  not  until  1870  could  they  enjoy  all  the  privileges  of  the 
universities  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  To  the  credit  of  William  III,  it  must  be 
said  that  no  Catholic  lost  his  life  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  and  no  cruel 
persecutions  of  any  kind  took  place  during  his  reign. 

2  The  practice  of  passing  annual  Mutiny  Acts  has  been  continued  down  to  the 
present  time,  and  is  one  of  the  most  important  checks  on  royal  power  in  the 
English  constitution.  In  the  United  States  a  similar  check  on  the  President  is 
made  by  the  provision  in  the  Constitution  that  no  appropriation  for  the  army  can 
be  made  for  a  longer  period  than  two  years. 


392 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


The  Strife  between  the  Whigs  and  Tories  was  bitter,  and  it  was 
difficult  for  AVilliam  to  mediate  between  them,  and  at  last,  in  1690, 
he  dissolved  Parliament  and  called  another  one.  In  this  the 
Tories  had  a.,  majority.  It,  too,  was  by  no  ^  means  pliant,  but 
through  William’s  influence  an  Act  of  Grace  was  passed  which 
granted  indemnity  to  all  political  offenders  except  a  very  few,  and 
these  were  never  punished. 

487.  Ireland ;  Siege  of  Londonderry.  —  If  the  Revolution  was 
bloodless  in  England,  it  was  by  no  means  so  in  Ireland  and  Scot¬ 
land.  In  Ireland  the  resistance  was  almost  a  national  one,  not  so 
much  because  of  personal  opposition  to  William,  as  because  a 
large  party  believed  that  it  might  be  possible  to  secure  the 
independence  of  Ireland,  and  so,  though  this  party  supported 
James,  they  did  not  do  so  simply  for  his  sake.  James  landed  in 
Ireland  in  March,  1689,  bringing  with  him  some  French  troops. 
He  at  once  called  an  Irish  Parliament  to  meet  in  Dublin.  This 
was  a  Catholic  body.  It  proclaimed  the  independence  of  Ireland 
and  repealed  the  Act  of  Settlement  (1661)  (§441)  which  had 
confirmed  land  to  Englishmen  ;  it  tlien  passed  “  The  Great  Act  of 
Attainder,”  by  which  2443  Protestants  named  in  the  bill  were, 
without  trial  or  hearing,  condemned  to  death  and  their  property 
confiscated. 

The  Protestants  in  the  southern  part  of  the  island  were  forced 
to  submit  to  James.  Those  in  the  north,  who  were  the  most 
numerous,  for  self-preservation  attempted  resistance,  and  in  Ulster 
they  took  arms  in  the  name  of  William  and  Protestantism.  The 
chief  towns  of  Ulster  were  Londonderry  and  Enniskillen.  Lon¬ 
donderry  was  soon  besieged  by  the  army  of  James.  A  boom 
stretched  across  the  river  prevented  supplies  from  reaching  the 
town,  which  was  closely  invested.  Though  reduced  to  the  utmost 
extremities  for  food,  the  citizens  held  out  for  105  days;  then, 
when,  but  two  days’  scanty  provisions  remained,  ships  sent  by 
William  broke  the  boom  in  the  river  and  brought  food  to  the  fam¬ 
ishing  people.  James’s  army  raised  the  siege  and  Londonderry 


AFFAIRS  IN  IRELAND 


393 


was  saved.  A  few  days  later  the  men  of  Enniskillen,  who  had  un¬ 
dergone  a  somewhat  similar  experience,  defeated  their  foes  at 
Newton-Butler.  (See  Macaulay,  History  of  Etigland,  chap,  xii.) 

488.  Battle  of  the  Boyne,  16903  Treaty  of  Limerick,  1691. 
—  William  recognized  the  necessity  of  retaining  Ireland  if  he 
wished  to  continue  to  be  king.  He  therefore  sent  Marshall 
Schomberg,  one  of  his  best  generals,  to  Ireland  with  a  body  of 
English  troops.  But  this  army,  greatly  weakened  by  an  epidemic 
of  camp  fever,  accomplished  little.  William  himself  then  went 
to  Ireland,  landing  at  Carrickfergus  in  June,  1690.  He  brought 
30,000  English  and  Dutch  troops  with  him.  On  the  first  of  July, 
at  the  battle  of  the  Boyne,  he  defeated  James  and  drove  his  army 
in  a  panic  toward  Dublin.  James  fled  to  France,  but  Schomberg 
was  killed  in  the  battle. 

William  entered  Dublin  as  a  victor  and  then  went  on  to 
Limerick,  but  was  unable  to  take  the  town.  He  returned  to 
England  at  the  close  of  the  summer,  leaving  affairs  in  charge  of 
one  of  his  Dutch  generals.  Not  until  October,  1691,  was  the  con¬ 
quest  of  Ireland  completed.  Then  by  the  Treaty  of  Limerick 
peace  was  made.  The  terms  were  not  severe.  All  Irish  soldiers 
who  wished  to  do  so  were  allowed  to  go  to  France  and  enter  the 
service  of  Louis. ^  The  other  provisions  of  the  treaty  unfortu¬ 
nately  were  never  carried  out. 

489.  Intolerance  of  the  Irish  Parliament.  —  As  the  English 
Parliament  had  passed  an  act  excluding  Catholics  from  the  Irish 
Parliament,  the  latter  was  now  as  strongly  Protestant  as  its  im¬ 
mediate  predecessor  had  been  Catholic.  It  refused  to  be  bound 
by  the  terms  of  the  Treaty  of  Limerick.  Protestant  supremacy 
was  then  settled  in  a  way  which  went  beyond  even  Cromwell  or 
Strafford.  Catholics  were  deprived  of  all  political  rights,  and  were 
not  allowed  to  hold  lands  or  will  property  except  to  Protestants ; 

1  It  is  said  that  34,000  took  advantage  of  this  permission,  and  emigrated  with 
their  families.  The  famous  Irish  Brigade  of  France  was  formed  from  these  men. 
Irish  names  have  since  occurred  in  French  annals  of  civil  and  military  service  with 
credit  and  renown. 


394 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


orphans,  if  minors,  were  put  under  the  care  of  Protestant  guard¬ 
ians  ;  Catholic  schoolmasters  were  not  permitted,  nor  were  Catho¬ 
lics  allowed  to  send  their  children  abroad  to  be  educated ;  priests 
and  monks  were  ordered  to  leave  the  island  and  not  to  return 
under  pain  of  death.  This  code  was  one  of  the  most  vindictive 
and  persecuting  in  British  annals. 

490.  English  Parliament,  and  Ireland ;  Irish  Emigration.  — 
But  it  was  not  only  the  Irish  Catholics  who  suffered.  The  Eng¬ 
lish  Parliament  was  now  the  final  authority  in  relation  to  Irish 
affairs,  and  this  body  was  as  intolerant  as  it  was  unjust.  To  bene¬ 
fit  English  cloth  makers  the  export  of  Irish  cloth  was  prohibited, 
although  this  greatly  injured  the  Protestants  in  the  north  of 
Ireland,  to  whom  this  industry  had  become  a  chief  means  of 
support.  The  Toleration  Act  (§  485),  to  please  the  few  Epis¬ 
copalians  in  Ireland  and  the  High  Church  Party  in  England,  was 
not  extended  to  Ireland,  and  so  the  Presbyterians,  who  had  fought 
and  suffered  so  much  at  Londonderry,  were  forbidden  to  worship 
according  to  their  conscience.  As  a  result  thousands  of  Protes¬ 
tants,  of  that  Scotch-Irish  class  so  sturdy,  so  independent,  and  so 
able,  found  refuge  in  the  New  World,  peopling  the  region 
then  known  as  the  backwoods  of  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  and  the 
Carolinas.  It  is  hard  to  conceive  of  a  policy  short  of  bodily 
cruelty  more  fatal  to  harmony,  development,  and  justice^  The 
vast  majority  of  Irishmen  were  permanently  embittered  against 
England.  Had  he  been  free  from  Parliament,  William’s  well- 
known  love  of  tolerance  would  doubtless  have  made  a  very  much 
better  settlement.  But  it  must  be  confessed  that,  on  the  whole, 
his  treatment  of  the  Irish  question,  so  far  as  he  had  the  power,  is 
not  to  his  credit,  and  remains  one  of  the  blots  upon  his  reign. 

491.  Revolution  in  Scotland.  1689. — The  resistance  in  Scot¬ 
land  to  William  and  Mary’s  rule  was  not  so  strong  as  in  Ireland. 
In  March,  1689,  a  convention  was  called  to  meet  in  Edin¬ 
burgh.  It  proved  to  have  a  large  Whig  majority.  It  declared  that 
James  VH  (James  H  of  England)  had  forfeited  the  crown;  it 


AFFAIRS  IN  SCOTLAND 


395 


passed  a  Declaration  of  Right  called  the  “  Claim  of  Rights,”  and 
offered  the  crown  to  William  and  Mary.  The  offer  was  accepted, 
and  William  and  Mary  took  the  Scottish  coronation  oath  at  White¬ 
hall,  London,  in  the  presence  of  Scottish  commissioners,  and 
agreed  to  carry  out  the  wishes  of  the  convention.  The  convention 
restored  Presbyterianism,  which  became  the  state  religion  and  has 
continued  to  be  so  from  that  time. 

492.  Highlanders  and  Dundee.  1689.  —  James’s  representative, 
John  Graham  of  Claverhouse,  now  Viscount  of  Dundee,  went  to 
the  Highlands  to  try  to  stir  up  the  clans  to  rise  for  James.  But 
these  Highlanders  were  far  more  interested  in  their  own  petty 
feuds  than  in  James  or  William.  By  skillful  management  Dun¬ 
dee  got  together  a  large  force  of  men  ready  to  do  anything  to 
keep  down  the  clan  Campbell,  against  the  members  of  which 
all  had  grudges.  As  the  Campbells  were  Whigs,  they  were  sup¬ 
porters  of  William  and  Mary.  Thus  the  enemies  of  the  Camp¬ 
bells  were  hostile  to  William.  The  Highlanders  under  Dundee 
met  the  forces  of  William  under  Mackay  at  the  pass  of  Killie- 
krankie  and  defeated  them  (July,  1689).  But  Dundee  was 
killed  and  Mackay  was  soon  able  to  rally  his  troops.  The  High¬ 
landers,  more  desirous  of  plunder  than  of  a  successful  campaign, 
soon  retired  to  their  mountain  homes  with  their  spoil.  This  left 
William  master  of  Scotland,  for  James  had  no  large  following  in  the 
lowlands,  which  were  the  more  populous  portions  of  the  country. 

493.  Massacre  of  Glencoe.  1692.  —  The  Highlanders  were 
still  in  a  very  restless  state,  and  it  was  determined  to  attempt  to 
buy  them  off.  All  who  would  not  come  in  and  take  the  oaths 
of  allegiance  before  December  31,  1691,  were  to  be  considered 
guilty  of  treason.  One  of  the  chieftains,  Macdonald  of  Glencoe, 
put  off  taking  the  oath  till  the  last  moment.  A  snowstorm  de¬ 
layed  him,  and  though  the  magistrate  explained  how  the  oath  was 
belated,  Campbell,  bent  on  personal  revenge,  sent  an  officer  with 
a  party  of  troops  to  (Bencoe,  the  home  of  the  Macdonalds. 
They  were  treated  with  hospitality  for  a  fortnight.  Then  one 


396 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


morning,  before  dawn,  the  soldiers  fell  upon  their  unsuspecting 
hosts,  and  slaughtered  the  chief,  his  wife,  and  thirty-eight  of  the 
clan,  including  some  women  and  children.  Two  or  three  times 
as  many  perished  from  cold  and  hardship  in  their  flight. 

The  primary  responsibility  for  this  massacre  rests  with  Captain 
Campbell,  who  led  the  expedition,  and  John  Dalrymple,  known 
as  the  Master  of  Stair,*  William’s  chief  agent  in  Scotland ; 
William,  however,  cannot  be  acquitted  of  blame.  The  most  that 
can  be  said  in  palliation  of  William’s  share  in  this  transaction 
is,  that  he,  doubtless,  had  no  idea  of  the  way  in  which  his  order 
would  be  carried  out.  So  great  was  the  indignation  excited  by 
this  deed  that  William  was  forced  to  dismiss  the  Master  of  Stair 
from  office. 

494.  Foreign  Affairs;  Beachy  Head.  1690.  —  After  the  Peace 
of  Nimeguen  (§  453)  William  had  succeeded  in  forming  a 
great  league  known  as  the  Grand  Alliance  against  Louis.  His 
accession  to  the  English  throne  was  of  the  greatest  advantage  to 
him,  and  without  it  he  must  have  failed.  The  action  of  Louis  in 
supporting  James  II  was  all  that  was  needed  to  make  England 
actively  support  the  alliance.  War  was  declared  against  P’rance 
in  May,  1689  ;  but  as  William  was  in  Ireland  (§  488),  all  authority 
was  given  to  Mary.  Notwithstanding  Holland,  Spain,  Denmark, 
Sweden,  and  other  powers  were  allied  against  him,  Louis  managed 
to  hold  his  own.  He  equipped  a  strong  fleet,  and  on  June  30, 
r690,  the  French  Admiral  Tourville  won  a  great  victory  over  the 
combined  English  and  Dutch  fleets  off  Beachy  Head.  The  Eng¬ 
lish  were  almost  panic-stricken.  The  courage,  wisdom,  and 
ability  with  which  Mary  conducted  affairs  during  this  trying 
time  endeared  her  to  all  Englishmen.  The  French  contented 
themselves  with  burning  Teignmouth,  but  for  the  moment  all 
England  was  united.  Following  the  defeat  off  Beachy  Head  came 
the  news  of  William’s  victory  of  the  Boyne  (§  488),  and  England 
once  more  breathed  freely.  Much  as  the  victory  meant  to  Eng- 
1  The  eldest  son  of  a  Scottish  lord  was  called  by  the  title  of  Master. 


PEACE  OF  RYSWICK 


397 


land,  it  also  affected  the  whole  course  of  European  history.  For 
it  destroyed  any  hope  of  attacking  William  by  way  of  Ireland, 
and  this  left  him  free  to  carry  out  his  continental  plans  against 
Louis  XIV. 

495.  Victory  of  La  Hogue.  1692.  —  The  defeat  at  Beachy 
Head  was  a  severe  blow  to  the  pride  of  England  and  also  of 
Holland,  besides  making  the  danger  of  a  French  invasion  a  very 
real  one.  Had  Louis  been  better  advised,  or  had  he  dared  to 
risk  an  invasion  without  waiting  for  a  rising  of  the  Jacobites'  in 
England,  he  would  have  not  only  greatly  injured  England  and  her 
power,  but  have  inflicted  a  possibly  fatal  blow  upon  William  and 
his  plans.  As  it  was,  England  put  forth  great  efforts,  and  by  the 
time  Louis  felt  ready  to  attempt  an  invasion  Admiral  Russell  met 
the  French  fleet  off  La  Hogue,  Normandy,  and  inflicted  a  crushing 
defeat  (May  19,  1692)  before  the  eyes  of  James  1 1,  who  was  on 
shore  watching  the  action.  That  victory  saved  England  from  any 
invasion  and  blasted  the  hopes  of  James. 

496.  Peace  of  Ryswick.  1697.^ — On  land  the  fighting  was 
mostly  in  the  Netherlands,  and  the  French  were  generally  the 
victors ;  but  somehow,  William,  who  crossed  over  to  Holland 
every  summer,  was  able  to  bring  it  about  that  the  French  secured 
very  little  fruit  from  their  success,  and  Louis  scarcely  did  more 
than  hold  his  own.  William  at  last  won  a  decided  victory  at 
Namur(i695),  and  in  1697  peace  was  declared  and  a  treaty  signed 
at  Ryswick,  near  The  Hague.  Louis  gave  back  all  his  conquests 
made  during  the  war,  and  acknowledged  William  as  king  and  the 
succession  to  the  crown  as  had  been  fixed  by  Parliament.  William 
thus  succeeded  in  setting  limits  to  the  power  of  France,  secured 
his  own  recognition,  put  an  end  to  France’s  support  of  James  H, 
had  come  out  of  the  struggle  stronger  than  at  its  beginning,  and, 
moreover,  had  gained  for  England  a  position  in  Europe  such  as 
she  had  not  held  since  the  time  of  Cromwell.  On  the  other 

1  The  adherents  of  James  from  this  time  were  called  Jacobites,  from  Jacobus,  the 
Latin  for  James. 


398 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


hand,  the  Grand  Alliance  against  France  was  dissolved,  and  France 
remained  unquestionably  the  strongest  and  most  united  power  in 
Europe. 

497.  The  National  Debt;  Bank  of  England,  1694;  Triennial 
Bill.  1694. — The  war  had  been  costly  to  England,  and  the  raising 
of  funds  to  meet  the  outlay  had  been  no  easy  matter.  Out  of 
this  need  arose  two  institutions  which  have  lasted  till  the  present 
day  —  the  National  Debt  and  the  Bank  of  England.  Heretofore, 
money  had  been  generally  raised  by  taxation,  or  by  short  loans 
from  bankers  or  individuals,  which  were  always  considered  to  be 
temporary  measures.  But  Charles  Montague,  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer,  proposed  (1693)  that  the  government  should  raise 
money  by  a  loan,  the  payment  of  which  should  be  in  the  distant 
future  and  the  interest  upon  which  should  become  a  part  of  the 
.fixed  annual  national  expenses.'  The  next  year  (1694),  at  the 
suggestion  of  William  Paterson,  a  member  of  Parliament  and  a 
successful  merchant,  a  company  of  merchants  agreed  to  lend  the 
government  ;^i,2oo,ooo  at  a  specified  rate  of  interest  in  return  for 
a  charter  conferring  certain  banking  and  financial  privileges.  The 
need  of  the  country  for  better  banking  and  monetary  facilities  made 
the  enterprise  a  successful  one,  and  the  Bank  of  England  not  only 
became  the  financial  agent  of  the  government,  but  also  gave  the 
merchants  of  England  a  far  safer  place  of  deposit  than  the  old- 
fashioned  system  of  banking  with  the  goldsmiths. 

Not  the  least  important  result  of  these  financial  measures  was 
the  additional  support  that  it  gave  to  William’s  government  and 
the  principles  of  the  Revolution.  All  who  subscribed  to  the  loans, 
or  who  had  stock  in  the  Bank,  or  deposited  in  it,  became  thereby 
personally  interested  in  the  permanence  of  the  existing  govern¬ 
ment  ;  for,  if  James  II  should  return,  it  was  morally  certain  that  no 
effort  would  be  made  to  pay  interest  on  money  which  had  been 
used  to.  keep  him  from  the  throne. 

Parliament  also  passed  (1694)  a  new  Triennial  Bill,  by  which  it 

1  The  early  loans  were  arranged  upon  a  complicated  system  of  life  annuities. 


FINANCES  AND  THE  SUCCESSION 


399 


was  provided  that  no  Parliament  could  sit  longer  than  three  years. 
This  was  a  direct  blow  at  the  royal  power,  as  it  required  frequent 
appeals  to  the  voters.  William  had  vetoed  a  similar  bill  in  1693, 
but  felt  obliged  to  assent  to  this.^ 


The  Bank  of  England 

The  present  building,  Threadneedle  Street,  London 

498.  Death  of  Queen  Mary ;  The  Succession ;  Freedom  of  the 
Press;  Plots.  —  In  the  very  last  days  of  1694  (December  28)  a 
great  sorrow  fell  upon  England  in  the  death,  from  smallpox,  after 
a  very  short  illness,  of  Queen  Mary,  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-three. 
She  was  much  beloved  by  the  nation  at  large.  To  William  the 
blow  was  a  crushing  one  and  he  never  fully  recovered  from  it.^ 

As  Mary  and  William  were  childless,  Mary’s  sister  was  the  next 
heir  to  the  throne.  She  had  married  Prince  George  of  Denmark 


>  B)' the  Triennial  Bill  of  Charles  I  (1641)  (§  382)  it  was  required  that  a  Parlia¬ 
ment  should  sit  at  least  once  in  three  years;  this  bill  called  for  a  new  election  once 
in  three  years. 

2  William  had  not  always  been  a  faithful  husband,  and  during  the  early  years  of 
their  married  life  he  had  been  unkind,  but  through  Mary’s  devotion  to  him  and 
his  interests  he  became  deeply  attached  to  her. 

The  conduct  of  Mary  in  accepting  her  father’s  throne  has  been  stigmatized  by 
Stuart  defenders  as  "  a  violation  of  the  moral  law,”  and  as  “  unnatural  conduct.” 
But  in  royal  affairs  family  relations  have  too  often  been  sacrificed  without  condem¬ 
nation  to  be  severely  dwelt  upon  in  the  case  of  Mary  and  Anne.  That  Mary  recog¬ 
nized  with  pain  the  necessity  of  acting  as  she  did  is  abundantly  evident,  but  she  felt 
that  it  was  her  duty  to  follow  her  husband. 


400 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


(1683),  but  of  her  numerous  children  only  one  was  surviving  at  the 
time  of  Mary’s  death. 

In  1695  an  important  step  in  the  direction  of  greater  liberty 
was  the  removal  of  the  censorship  of  the  press  ;  this  was  accom¬ 
plished  by  the  House  of  Commons  refusing  to  renew  the  Licensing 
Act.^  From  this  time  the  people  could  not  only  worship  as 
they  pleased,  but  also  print  what  they  pleased,  provided  it  was 
not  “  libellous,  seditious,  or  blasphemous.” 

Perhaps  the  most  serious  of  the  many  plots  to  restore  James  was 
that  called  Fenwick’s  plot  from  the  chief  conspirator.  Sir  John 
Fenwick.  He  was  seized,  but  owing  to  a  new  law  in  regard  to 
treason  requiring  the  testimony  of  two  witnesses,  he  could  not  be 
convicted.  Parliament  therefore  condemned  him  by  a  bill  of  at¬ 
tainder,  and  under  it  he  was  executed  (January,  1697).  This  was 
the  last  bill  of  attainder  passed  by  an  English  Parliament  under 
which  an  execution  took  place.^ 

499.  First  Party  Ministry.  1697.  —  William  had  chosen  his 
ministers  from  both  political  parties.  But  the  plan  had  not 
worked  well.  As  there  was  always  a  reasonable  doubt  of  William’s 
ability  to  retain  his  crown,  some  of  the  leaders  while  in  his  service 
did  not  hesitate  to  communicate  with  James,  and  in  some  instances 
were  mixed  up  with  Jacobite  plots.  Marlborough,  who  had  fought 
successfully  for  William  in  Ireland,  had  been  dismissed  in  disgrace 
for  complicity  in  some  of  these  plots.  Corruption,  especially 
among  the  Tory  leaders,  had  also  come  to  light.  William  there¬ 
fore  was  almost  obliged  to  turn  to  the  Whigs.  On  the  advice  of 
the  Earl  of  Sunderland,  once  one  of  the  ministers  of  James  II,  he 

1 A  Licensing  Act  passed  in  1662  had  been  renewed  from  time  to  time ;  by  this 
it  was  made  unlawful  under  severe  penalties  to  publish  any  book  or  paper  unless 
previously  licensed  by  the  government  licenser.  The  act  had  been  allowed  to  lapse 
in  1679,  but  had  been  reenacted  in  1685. 

2 Though  the  old  Law  of  Treason  of  Edward  III  had  nominally  required  the 
testimony  of  two  witnesses,  it  had  been  evaded.  The  new  law  made  the  sworn 
testimony  of  two  witnesses  essential.  It  also  allowed  the  accused  the  right  of  legal 
counsel,  a  copy  of  the  indictment  before  the  trial,  and  other  privileges  which  had 
previously  been  denied. 


FIRST  PARTY  MINISTRY 


401 


determined  to  form  a  ministry  wholly  of  Whigs.  Of  these  he  con¬ 
sulted  four  more  than  others,  and  they  became  known  as  the  Jimto.^ 
There  is  no  reason  whatever  to  suppose  that  William  had  in  mind 
a  ministry  responsible  to  the  House  of  Commons,  but  the  plan 
was  clearly  a  step  in  that  direction. 

500.  Recoinage  Act,  1696;  The  Loyal  Association.  —  Another 
measure  of  great  importance  was  the  Recoinage  Act  (1696). 
Coins  had  been  usually  issued  with  smooth  edges,  and  it  was  easy 
to  clip  slight  pieces  of  metal  from  them,  the  result  being  that  coins 
were  seldom  of  their  full  nominal  value.  To  remedy  this  it  was 
decided  to  call  in  all  coins  and  issue  an  entirely  new  set  with 
milled  edges  to  prevent  clipping.  To  compel  the  presentation  of 
the  old  coins  for  redemption,  all  old  and  mutilated  coins  were  to 
cease  to  be  a  legal  tender  after  a  certain  date.  To  insure  the 
genuineness  of  the  issue,  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  the  noted  scientist  and 
philosopher,  was  appointed  master  of  the  mint. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  Peace  of  Ryswick  (§  496)  William  was 
more  nearly  popular  than  he  had  ever  been.  The  Fenwick  and 
other  plots  against  him  had  also  aroused  public  sympathy,  and  as 
in  the  case  of  Elizabeth  an  association  ^  was  formed  to  protect  him 
or  avenge  his  death,  should  he  be  assassinated,  and  Parliament 
passed  an  act  requiring  all  officers  civil  and  military  to  join  it. 

501.  The  Darien  Scheme.  1695-1699. — The  selfish  policy  of 
England  was  seen,  not  only  in  Ireland,  but  in  Scotland  as  well. 
For  instance,  the  Navigation  Act  (§  443)  was  not  extended  to  Scot¬ 
land,  neither  could  the  Scots  have  a  share  in  the  English  trading 
companies.  While  English  commerce  was  profitable  and  increas¬ 
ing,  that  of  Scotland  was  small  and  hampered  by  the  lack  of  privi¬ 
leges  that  England  enjoyed.  William  Paterson,  the  originator  of 

1  Junto,  a  Spanish  word  meaning  a  knot  of  men.  The  ministers  were  Lord 
Somers,  Lord  High  Chancellor;  Montague,  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer;  Ix)rd 
Russell,  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty;  and  Lord  Wharton,  the  “  political  boss"  of 
the  day. 

2  It  was  called  the  "  Loyal  Association."  Over  four  hundred  members  of  the 
House  of  Commons  and  thousands  of  private  citizens  joined. 


402 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


the  Bank  of  England,  a  Scotsman  by  birth,  conceived  the  idea  of 
establishing  a  trading  company,  somewhat  like  the  East  India 
Company,  for  trading  with  America  and  the  West  Indies.  The 
Isthmus  of  Panama,  or  Darien,  as  it  was  then  called,  was  selected 
as  the  main  station,  as  it  commanded  both  oceans.  A  charter 
was  granted  by  the  Scottish  Parliament,  and  a  large  sum  of  money 
was  invested  in  the  scheme.  Two  expeditions  of  colonists  went 
out  (1698,  1699)  and  attempted  to  make  a  settlement,  but  two 
most  important  features  were  either  overlooked  or  ignored  ;  first, 
the  tropical  climate ;  and  secondly,  the  fact  that  Darien  was  in 
Spanish  territory.  Besides  this,  both  the  East  India  Company 
and  the  Dutch  merchants  looked  upon  the  scheme  as  an  infringe¬ 
ment  of  their  rights.  William  disliked  the  plan,  for  it  would,  if 
carried  out,  inevitably  lead  to  war  with  Spain,  besides  angering 
the  Dutch.  Through  disease,  attacks  by  the  Spaniards,  and 
lack  of  support  the  enterprise  ended  in  failure  and  total  loss  for 
the  stockholders  and  emigrants.  The  Scots  laid  the  whole  blame 
upon  William,  and  there  was  much  ill  feeling  against  him  and 
England. 

502.  The  Army;  Irish  Land  Grants.  1699,  1700.  —  William 
recognized  that  the  Peace  of  Ryswick  (§  496)  was  only  a  cessation 
of  hostilities.  In  Parliament,  however,  the  inherited  fear  of  a 
standing  army  and  the  great  expense  of  maintaining  it  united  both 
Whigs  and  Tories  in  support  of  a  measure  to  reduce  the  English 
army  to  a  peace  footing.  In  the  face  of  William’s  opposition,  by 
the  end  of  1700  the  army  had  been  reduced  to  7000  men.  More¬ 
over,  William  was  forced  to  send  his  faithful  Dutch  guards  back 
to  Holland.  This  so  angered  him  that  it  is  said  that  he  threat¬ 
ened  to  abdicate.  This  action  of  Parliament  was  a  sorry  return 
for  what  William  had  done  for  England,  and  also  a  mean  treat¬ 
ment  of  the  Dutch  soldiers  who  had  bravely  fought  the  battles  of 
Englishmen. 

Other  troubles  came  from  Ireland.  Large  tracts  of  land  in 
that  island  had  come  into  the  possession  of  the  crown  after  the 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS 


403 


conquest ;  of  these  lands  William  very  unwisely  made  large  grants 
to  his  favorites,  especially  to  his  Dutch  friends.  The  House  of 
Commons,  ill  pleased  with  this  action,  proceeded  to  annul  these 
grants  and  divide  the  land  among  favorites  of  its  own.  It  also 
declared  forfeited  land  which  had  not  been  forfeited  at  all.  The 
Lords,  though  opposed  to  these  measures,  finally  yielded.^  The 
Commons  also  fiercely  attacked  Somers,  the  Lord  High  Chancel¬ 
lor,  and  William  required  his  resignation.  This  helped  to  estab¬ 
lish  a  precedent  that  ministers  of  state  unwelcome  to  the  House 
of  Commons  cannot  remain  in  office. 

503.  The  Spanish  Succession.  1698.  —  Louis  XIV  had  agreed 
to  the  Treaty  of  Ryswick  (§  496)  because  he  wished  to  get  ready 
for  another  conflict  which  he  saw  was  inevitable.  This  was  in 
relation  to  the  question  as  to  whom  the  empire  of  Spain  would 
descend.  The  king  of  Spain,  Charles  H,  was  childless  and  in 
such  ill  health  that  he  might  die  at  any  moment.  The  first  wife 
of  Louis  XIV  was  the  older  sister  of  Charles,  and  Louis  might 
claim  the  Spanish  crown  for  one  of  his  sons  or  grandsons.  The 


The  Spanish  Succession 


Philip  III  of  Spain 
1598-1621 


Anne 

=  Louis  XIII  of  France 


Louis  XI  V' 


Philip  IV  of  Spain 
1621-1665 
I  . 


Maria 

Emp.  Ferdinand  III 


=  Maria  Theresa  Charles  II  of  Spain  Margaret  (i)=  Leopold  I 


Louis  the  Dauphin 


1665-1700 


Theresa 


cl.  1705 
=  ($)  Eleanor 


Louis,  Philip  V 

D.  of  Burgundy  of  Spain 
I  D.  of  Anjou 

Louis  XV  1700-1746 


Maria  | - 

=  Max  Emanuel  Joseph  I 
of  Bavaria  "^6.1711 


Joseph  Ferdinand 
Electoral  Prince 
d.  1699 


Archduke  Charles 
Emp.  Charles  VI 
(after  1711,  d.  1740) 


iThe  Commons  gained  their  point  with  the  Lords  by  attaching  the  land  meas¬ 
ures  to  a  money  bill  which  the  Lords  were  forced  to  pass  or  le.ave  the  govern¬ 
ment  without  sufficient  funds.  In  modern  times  this  is  called  “  attaching  a  rider.” 
The  Lords  were  not  allowed  to  alter  a  money  bill. 


404 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


younger  sister  of  Charles  had  married  the  German  emperor, 
Leopold  of  Austria,  whose  grandson,  a  child,  was  the  Electoral 
Prince  of  Bavaria.  By  the  marriage  settlement  in  each  case  the 
sisters  of  Charles  had  renounced  any  claim  each  might  have  to 
the  Spanish  crown ;  so,  legally,  they  and  their  children  were 
disqualified.  Leopold,  however,  was  claimant  for  himself  or  his 
son  on  the  ground  that  he  was  the  son  of  an  aunt  of  Charles, 
who  had  made  no  renunciation  of  her  claim.  The  Dauphin  of 
France,  son  of  the  oldest  sister,  would  have  had  the  best  claim,  had 
it  not  been  for  his  mother’s  renunciation. 

The  vast  territories  of  Spain,  both  in  Europe  and  the  New 
World,  made  the  question  of  the  Spanish  succession  one  of  very 
great  importance  to  every  European  government.  If  a  French 
prince  should  be  given  the  crown,  it  would  enormously  increase 
the  lands  under  French  influence  and  greatly  strengthen  the 
power  of  Louis  ;  should  the  Austrian  prince  succeed,  it  would 
have  a  similar  effect  upon  Austrian  influence  and  power. 

To  England  and  Holland,  independently  of  the  increase  of 
power  brought  to  their  great  enemy,  Louis,  should  the  French 
claimant  gain  the  throne,  there  might  be  an  incalculable  loss  of 
commercial  wealth  and  power.  The  greater  part  of  the  carrying 
trade  of  the  world  was  now  divided  between  England  and  Hol¬ 
land,  and  the  trade  of  both  with  Spain  and  her  colonies  was 
extremely  profitable.  Besides  this,  Spain  had  become  so  weak 
that  a  very  large  part  of  her  trade  with  her  own  colonies  had 
fallen  into  English  and  Dutch  hands.  Should  the  Austrians  gain 
Spain,  the  balance  of  power  in  Europe  would  also  be  affected, 
though  not  to  so  great  a  degree.  William  saw  conditioirs  far 
better  than  most,  and  strove  to  meet  them  in  the  way  most 
favorable  for  the  interests  of  England  and  Holland  ;  and  if  possible 
to  avoid  war,  which  would  inevitably  break  out  should  either 
France  or  Austria  receive  the  crown. 

504.  The  Partition  Treaties.  1698,  1700.  —  Louis,  not  yet 
ready  for  another  war,  was  willing  to  listen  to  the  overtures  of 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS 


405 


William,  who  tried  to  persuade  him  that  it  was  better  for  him  to 
gain  part  of  Spain’s  dominion  peacefully  than  to  go  to  war  for  the 
whole.  As  a  result  of  this  negotiation  a  secret  treaty,  known  as 
the  First  Partition  Treaty,  was  signed  by  England,  France,  and 
Holland  (1698).  This  provided  that  in  case  of  the  death  of 
Charles  of  Spain  his  crown  should  go  to  the  young  Electoral  Prince 
of  Bavaria,  but  that  certain  provinces  of  the  kingdom  should  be 
divided  between  France  and  Austria.  This  certainly  was  the 
wisest  plan,  but  unfortunately  the  child  died  the  next  year  (1699). 
A  second  secret  Partition  Treaty  was  arranged  (1700)  between 
^Villiam  and  Louis  by  which  the  Archduke  Charles,  second  son  of 
Leopold  of  Austria,  took  the  place  of  the  Electoral  Prince,  and  some 
changes  were  made  in  the  disposition  of  the  territories.^ 

Where  so  many  interests  are  involved,  secrecy  becomes  almost 
impossible ;  and  when  Charles  of  Spain  and  the  Spainards  learned 
of  what  had  been  going  on,  they  were  indignant  at  this  parceling 
out  of  the  destiny  of  Spain  by  foreigners. 

505.  Death  of  Charles  of  Spain  ;  His  Will,  i  700.  —  Charles 
of  Spain  died  (November  i,  1700)  and  surprised  every  one  by 
leaving  all  his  dominions  to  Philip,  Duke  of  Anjou,  second  son  of 
the  Dauphin,  and  so  grandson  of  Louis  XIV.'*  Louis  was  in  a  di¬ 
lemma,  but  the  Partition  Treaty  had  not  been  accepted  by  Austria 
and  would  not  be,  for  the  will  of  Charles  provided  that  in  case  the 
Duke  of  Anjou  refused  the  inheritance  it  was  to  go  the  Archduke 
Charles,  who  would  tlien  get  the  whole  dominion  instead  of  part, 
as  would  be  the  case  if  Louis  carried  out  the  treaty  to  which  he 
had  agreed.  Louis  had  to  decide  either  to  refuse  the  will  and 
have  Austria  and  Spain  united,  or  accept  the  will  and  break  the 
treaty  and  run  the  risk  of  having  England,  Holland,  and  Austria 

1  The  fact  that  Charles  of  Spain  was  believed  to  be  incapable  of  negotiating 
partly  explains  the  otherwise  high-handed  measures  of  William  and  Louis. 

2  He  was  the  younger  son  of  the  Dauphin  Louis.  Old  renunciations  were  dis¬ 
posed  of  by  the  argument  that  they  had  been  given  so  that  the  kingdoms  should 
not  be  united,  and  as  the  will  provided  that  "  no  part  of  the  monarchy  should  be 
alienated  from  its  main  body,  and  that  this  should  never  be  united  with  any  other 
foreign  state,"  there  was  no  violation  of  agreements. 


4o6 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


declare  war.  He  concluded  to  accept  the  will  and  break  his  word. 
Louis’s  grandson  was  recognized  as  Philip  V  of  Spain.  At  the 
time  it  seemed  as  if  all  that  William  had  been  striving  for  had 
been  lost. 

506.  English  Feeling;  The  Act  of  Settlement.  1701. — The 
Tory  Parliament  was  angry  when  the  fact  of  the  Partition  Treaties 
came  to  light,  and  William’s  Whig  ministers  were  impeached  for 
their  share  in  the  negotiations  on  the  ground  that  it  put  Protestant¬ 
ism  in  danger.  Their  impeachment,  however,  was  dropped  and 
the  Parliament  was  dissolved.  A  new  Parliament  had  also  a  Tory 
majority  in  the  Commons,  The  important  work  of  this  body  was 
the  final  settlement  of  the  succession  to  the  crown.  Anne’s  last 
child,  the  little  Duke  of  Gloucester,  had  died,  and  after  Anne  the  suc¬ 
cession  was  in  doubt.  By  this  time  the  vast  majority  of  both  Whigs 
and  Tories  had  given  up  the  doctrine  of  the  divine  right  of  kings, 
and  held  that  the  right  to  fix  the  succession  lay  in  Parliament. 
Accordingly  the  Act  of  Settlement  was  passed  (June  ii,  1701), 
fixing  the  succession  in  case  of  either  William  or  Anne  having  no 
direct  descendants,  in  the  Electress  Sophia  of  Hanover^  and  her 
Protestant  descendants.  It  was  further  provided  that  all  future 
monarchs  must  be  Protestants  and  members  of  the  Church  of 
England.  Becoming  a  Catholic,  or  marrying  a  Catholic,  would 
bar  any  heir  from  the  throne.  Other  provisions  were  that  no  per¬ 
son  holding  office  under  the  crown,  or  receiving  a  pension  from 
it,  could  sit  in  the  House  of  Commons.^  Judges  were  to  remain 
in  office  during  good  behavior  and  could  be  removed  only  by  both 
Houses  of  Parliament.  This  act  was  the  final  blow  in  England  to 
absolute  power  and  the  divine  right  of  kings,  for  in  fixing  the  suc¬ 
cession  as  it  did  regardless  of  strict  hereditary  descent,  it  asserted 

1  Sophia  was  the  daughter  of  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  James  I,  who  had  married 
(1613)  the  Elector  Palatine  (§351),  afterwards  king  of  Bohemia.  There  were  a 
number  of  heirs  nearer  in  blood,  but  they  all  were  Catholics.  Elizabeth  was  a  sister 
of  Prince.  Rupert  (§  390). 

-  This  provision  was  changed  in  a  few  years,  when  it  was  decided  that  any  mem¬ 
ber  of  Parliament  appointed  to  office  must  offer  himself  for  reelection.  This  rule 
still  holds  good. 


ACT  OF  SETTLEMENT;  DEATH  OF  WILLIAM  III  407 


in  the  strongest  way  the  right  of  the  people  to  choose  by  whom 
they  should  be  ruled. 

507.  The  “Old  Pretender”;  Grand  Alliance.  1702.  —  Mean¬ 
time,  Louis  entered  upon  a  course  which  brought  against  him  the 
enmity  of  even  the  extreme  Tories.  James  II  died  in  1701,  and 
Louis  immediately  recognized  his  son  as  James  III  of  England, 
Scotland,  and  Ireland.  This  was  contrary  to  the  spirit  if  not  the 
letter  of  the  Treaty  of  Ryswick  (§  496),  and  at  once  aroused  deep 
indignation  among  both  Whigs  and  Tories.  Louis  also  seized 
certain  fortresses  on  the  Dutch  borders  which  had  by  treaty  been 
garrisoned  by  Dutch  troops;  he  proclaimed  that  France  would  be 
treated  as  the  most  favored  nation  in  trade  with  the  Spanish-Amer- 
ican  colonies,  and  that  Philip  V  was  eligible  to  the  French  crown. 

William  had  already  been  able  to  organize  a  new  Grand  Alliance, 
and  Austria  had  declared  war  against  France.  A  new  Parliament 
was  chosen  which  had  a  Whig  majority.  It  soon  passed  an  act  of 
attainder  against  the  Pretender,  as  he  was  called,  who  claimed  to 
be  James  III.  The  act,  though  from  some  points  of  view  foolish 
and  harmless,  showed  the  Pretender  and  Louis  what  they  might 
expect.  Louis  had  touched  England  in  her  most  tender  points  — 
her  commerce  and  the  right  to  choose  her  rulers.  Holland’s  very 
existence  was  threatened,  as  well  as  her  commerce.  The  interests 
of  England  and  Holland  were  one. 

508.  Death  of  William  III.  1 702.  —  Parliament  authorized  an 
army  of  40,000  men  and  made  a  grant  for  the  navy.  While  Wil¬ 
liam  was  full  of  preparation  for  the  new  conflict,  he  was  suddenly 
cut  off.  While  riding  from  Kensington  to  Hampton  Court  his 
horse  stumbled  over  a  molehill ;  William  fell,  broke  his  collar  bone, 
and  sustained  internal  injuries.  Weak  in  body  and  in  frail  health, 
he  was  not  able  to  stand  the  shock,  and  in  a  few  days  (March  8, 
1702)  he  died,  just  when  it  seemed  that  there  was  the  best  chance 
of  succeeding  in  his  lifelong  effort. 

William  was  the  last  king  of  England  who  can  without  question 
be  called  great.  “  His  record  as  a  ruler  pure  and  simple,  as  a 


4o8 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


mere  expert  in  the  art  of  governing,  has  never  been  surpassed, 
perhaps  never  equaled  in  history.”  He  was  rich  in  the  great 
saving  virtues  of  “  good  sense,  self-restraint,  and  honesty.”  He 
was  always  faithful  to  his  compact  with  the  people  of  England,  and 
yet  held  “  in  one  hand  the  threads  of  a  vast  network  of  European 
diplomacy,  and  in  the  other  the  sword  which  kept  the  most  for¬ 
midable  of  European  monarchs  at  bay.” 

509.  Anne.  1702.  —  Anne,  sister  of  Mary,  succeeded  to  the 
crown  without  opposition.  She  was  the  second  daughter  of 
James  H  (§  451,  note),  and  was  thirty-seven  at  the  time  of  her  ac¬ 
cession.  Her  husband.  Prince  George  of  Denmark,  was  a  man  of 
small  capacity  and  coarse  habits,  who  had  little  influence.^  Anne 
was  of  “  middle  size,  well  proportioned ;  her  hair  was  of  dark 
brown  color,  her  complexion  ruddy ;  her  features  were  regular,  her 
countenance  was  rather  round  than  oval,  and  her  aspect  more 
comely  than  majestic.”  In  character  she  was  kindly,  honest, 
religious,  and  true  to  her  friends ;  but  she  was  also  obstinate  and 
narrow-minded,  and  of  small  intellectual  power.  She  had  a  true 
sense  of  her  responsibilities  and  was  a  thorough  Englishwoman, 
having,  as  she  said  in  her  first  speech,  an  entirely  English  heart. 
This  fact,  more  than  any  other,  endeared  her  to  her  subjects  and, 
added  to  her  kindness  of  heart,  gave  her  the  name  of  “  good 
Queen  Anne.”  ^ 

Anne  was  High  Church  in  her  views  and  so  sympathized  with 
the  Tories.  Like  most  obstinate  persons,  when  carefully  managed 
she  was  easily  influenced  by  a  strong  character.  In  her  case 
such  a  one  was  found  in  Sarah,  the  wife  of  Marlborough,  who, 
beginning  as  Sarah  Jennings,  a  lady-in-waiting,  became  the  bosom 
friend  of  Anne.  A  woman  of  strong  will,  ambitious,  and  not 
overscrupulous,  she  gained  unbounded  influence  over  the  queen. 

1  Charles  II  said  of  him,  “  I  have  tried  him  drunk,  and  I  have  tried  him  sober, 
and  therp  is  nothing  in  him.”  • 

2  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  feeling  was  increased  by  the  circumstance 
that  she  came  between  two  foreign  monarchs  —  William,  a  Dutchman,  and  George, 
a  German. 


QUEEN  ANNE 


409 


510.  Churchill,  Earl  of  Marlborough  (1650-1722).  —  John 
Churchill,  Earl  of  Marlborough  (§  464),  was  at  Anne’s  accession 
fifty-two  years  old.  He  was  thoroughly  selfish  ;  he  had  not 
hesitated  to  betray  James  II  or  William,  when  he  believed  that 
his  own  interests  could  be  served,  and  he  was  avaricious,  insin¬ 
cere,  and  a  time¬ 
server  ;  in  private 
morals,  however,  he 
was  better  than 
most  public  men  of 
that  vicious  age. 

He  was  handsome 
in  person,  suave 
and  graceful  in  his 
manners,  tactful, 
and  resourceful,  ap¬ 
parently  “  never  in 
a  hurry,  never 
vexed,  and  never 
worried.”  While 
somewhat  lacking 
in  broad  statesman¬ 
ship  and  true  polit¬ 
ical  ability,  his  tact  queen  Anne 

and  pleasant  man¬ 
ner  made  him  almost  as  successful  a  diplomatist  as  William. 
Though  it  is  said  that  he  never  commanded  an  army  until  he  was 
more  than  forty,  he  never  lost  a  battle ;  and  he  ranks  with  the 
best  generals  of  history.  The  relations  between  Anne  and  his 
wife  gave  Marlborough  the  position  which  might  not  otherwise 
have  been  his.  His  course  was  dictated  by  selfishness,  but  it 
happened  that,  at  least  for  a  time,  his  selfishness  coincided  with 
the  policy  of  William,  England,  and  Europe  against  Louis  XIV 
and  Spain. 


410 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


511.  Tory  Ministry ;  War  of  the  Spanish  Succession.  1702- 
1713.  —  Anne  soon  exchanged  William’s  Whig  ministers  for  Tory 
ones,  and  through  Marlborough’s  influence  the  chief  minister 
was  Lord  Godolphin,  whose  son  had  married  one  of  Marlbor¬ 
ough’s  daughters.  Godolphin  was  an  unprincipled  man,  like 
his  friend,  but  he  was  an  able  financier  and  a  warm-hearted 
supporter  of  Marlborough  and  his  plans. 

War  against  France  was  formally  declared  in  May,  1702.^  It 
lasted  twelve  years  and  is  known  as  the  War  of  the  Spanish 
Succession.  Against  France  and  Spain  were  allied  England, 
Holland,  Austria,  most  of  the  smaller  German  states,  and  Prussia, 
lately  made  a  kingdom  by  the  emperor  of  Germany  to  secure 
her  for  the  Grand  Alliance.^ 

Louis  XIV  had  some  support  in  Germany,  for  the  Electors 
of  Bavaria  and  Cologne  were  on  his  side.  Another  decided  ad¬ 
vantage  was  that,  instead  of  being  his  enemies,  the  Spanish 
Netherlands  were  now  under  his  control.  The  opposing  forces 
were  well  matched  and  the  issues  involved  were  great.  The 
active  campaign  was  begun  in  the  Spanish  Netherlands.  To 
Marlborough  was  given  the  command  of  both  the  English  and  the 
Dutch  forces,  and  he  was  successful,  capturing  two  cities  and 
gaining  control  of  the  Rhine.  In  other  places  the  allied  states 
were  not  so  fortunate.  Marlborough  returned  to  England,  re¬ 
ceived  the  thanks  of  the  Commons,  and  was  created  a  duke  by 
the  queen.  It  was  needful  for  the  allies  to  set  up  some  one  as 
king  of  Spain,  and  the  Archduke  Charles,  second  son  of  the 
Emperor  Leopold,  was  selected. 

512.  Blenheim.  1704.  —  Portugal  joined  the  Alliance  in  1 703 
(Treaty  of  Methuen);  and  Savoy,  angered  by  the  overbearing 
attitude  of  Louis,  deserted  him  and  joined  the  Alliance.  Louis, 
believing  that  Marlborough  would  not  leave  the  Netherlands, 

1  It  N^as  waged  not  only  in  Europe,  but  in  America  as  well,  where  it^ent  by  the 
name  of  Queen  Anne's  War. 

2  The  Electorate  of  Brandenburg  became  the  Kingdom  of  Prussia,  January  18, 
1701. 


MARLBOROUGH’S  CAMPAIGNS 


4II 

attacked  Austria.  Rut  Marlborough  by  forced  marches  joined 
Prince  Eugene  of  Savoy/  and  the  combined  armies  met  the 
French  and  Bavarian  armies  at  Blenheim  (German  Blindheim) 
on  the  Danube,  not  far  from  Hochstadt,  and  completely  defeated 
them  (August  13,  1704).  Austria  was  saved,  Bavaria  was  at  the 
mercy  of  the  allies,  and  France  humbled,  for  she  had  not  lost 
a  battle  in  the  field  for  sixty  years.  The  English  in  their  delight 
presented  the  manor  of  Woodstock  to  Marlborough  and  began 
to  erect  upon  it  the  huge  pile  of  buildings  called,  after  the  victory, 
Blenheim. 

513.  Gibraltar,  1704;  Marlborough  and  Allies  Victorious, 
1704-1709.  —  In  the  same  year  (1704)  an  expedition  under  Lord 
Rooke  captured  the  fortress  of  Gibraltar,  and  the  next  year  (1705 ) 
Lord  Peterborough  took  Barcelona,  and  with  an  allied  army  of  the 
English,  Dutch,  Portuguese,  and  Catalans  (belonging  to  a  re¬ 
volting  province  of  Spain)  occupied  Madrid  (1706).  Marlborough 
next  began  hostilities  in  the  Netherlands  and  won  a  memorable 
victory  over  the  French  at  Ramilies  (May,  1706).  Prince  Eugene 
was  successful  in  Italy,  and  the  year  1706  closed  with  the  allies 
victorious  everywhere  and  the  power  of  France  humbled  as  it 
had  not  been  for  centuries.  Louis  was  ready  to  make  peace, 
but  the  allies,  flushed  with  success,  would  not  hear  of  his  terms, 
and  so  the  war  went  on. 

The  year  of  1707  was  one  of  disaster  for  the  allies.  Though 
they  had  won  victories  and  taken  Madrid,  the  capital,  they  had 
not  advanced  any  nearer  the  real  conquest  of  Spain.  A  few  thou¬ 
sand  men  marching  about  does  not  mean  control.  The  next  year 
Marlborough  came  to  the  aid  of  the  Dutch  and  gained  another  of 
his  great  victorias  at  Oudenarde  (1708)  and  also  other  successes. 
Again  Louis  made  overtures  for  peace,  and  again  they  were  re¬ 
fused.  I.ouis  made  desperate  efforts,  and  raised  another  army, 

1  Eugene  was  a  younger  member  of  the  House  of  Savoy ;  he  was  born  in  France, 
but  deeming  himself  insulted  by  Louis,  he  left  France  and  entered  the  service  of 
the  emperor.  He  ranks  after  Marlborough  as  the  best  general  of  the  Alliance. 


412 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


only  to  be  defeated  by  Marlborough  and  Faigene  at  Malplaquet 
(September  ii,  1709),  one  of  the  most  bloody  battles  on  record.^ 

This  was  the  last  great  victory  of  Marlborough,  for  though  the 
war  hung  on,  it  was  marked  by  no  great  engagement. 

514.  The  War  Unpopular;  Dismissal  of  Marlborough,  1710; 
Negotiations,  1711. — The  English  were  weary  of  fighting  and  the 
expenses  had  been  enormous.  Louis  had  been  humbled,  and 
reasonable  terms  had  been  offered.  It  was  felt  that  Marlborough 
and  the  Whigs,  who  had  gradually  got  into  office,  were  prolong¬ 
ing  the  war  for  their  own  benefit.  The  Whigs  made  several  false 
moves  ;  and  Anne  dismissed  some  of  her  ministers,  dissolved  Par¬ 
liament,  and  called  a  new  one  (1710).  This  had  a  Tory  majority. 
Private  negotiations  for  peace  were  entered  into  with  Louis,  and 
Marlborough  saw  his  influence  and  power  steadily  decline.  In  the 
same  year  he  was  accused  of  appropriating  public  money,  and  of 
other  matters,  and  was  by  the  queen  herself  dismissed  from  all 
public  offices.*  At  last,  in  17  ii  the  allies  opened  negotiations 
with  Loui.s,  but  it  was  not  until  1713  (March  30)  that  the  Treaty 
of  Utrecht  was  signed  and  the  long  war  came  to  a  close. 

515.  Peace  of  Utrecht.  1713-  —  The  main  features  of  this 
most  important  treaty  were:  (i)  Spain  and  the  Indies  were  as¬ 
signed  to  Philip  V ;  (2)  it  was  agreed  that  Spain  and  France 
should  never  be  united;  (3)  France  recognized  the  Protestant 
succession  in  England  and  agreed  to  expel  the  Pretender  from 
France;  ^(4)  the  Dutch  were  to  garrison  certain  fortresses  along 
the  southern  frontier  of  what  had  been  the  Spanish,  but  which  by 
the  treaty  became  the  Austrian  Netherlands;  (5)  to  the  Duke  of 
Savoy  was  given  Sicily  in  addition  to  his  former  possessions,  with 

*  The  allies  lost  about  20,000  of  their  100,000  men,  and  the'French  about  12,000. 

2  Marlborough’s  defense  was  dignified.  He  claimed  that  he  had  received  the 
funds  in  accordance  with  established  precedent,  and  that  they  had  been  used, 
not  for  his  own  benefit,  but  in  the  secret  service  for  the  good  of  the  general  cause. 
Impartial  judgment  must  acquit  him  of  the  charges.  Marlborotigh  retired  to  the 
Continent,  not  returning  to  England  till  the  death  of  Anne.  George  appointed 
him  commander-in-chief,  but  he  was  treated  with  neglect.  His  health  failed,  and 
he  died  in  1722. 


UNION  OF  ENGLAND  AND  SCOTLAND 


413 


the  title  of  King  of  Sicily  ;  (6)  Brandenburg  was  recognized  as  the 
kingdom  of  Prussia;  (7)  England  received  Acadia  (Nova  Scotia) 
and  Newfoundland,  and  France  relinquished  any  claim  to  the 
Hudson  Bay  Territory ;  (8)  England  retained  permanently  the 
fortress  of  Gibraltar  and  the  Isle  of  Minorca^  Certain  other 
political  settlements  were  made.  This  treaty  had  a  vast  influence 
on  the  development  of  the  British  colonies  in  America.  In  the 
commercial  agreements  also  England  gained  much.  France 
agreed  to  receive  no  commercial  privileges  from  Spain  which 
would  give  her  special  advantage  in  the  trade  with  Spain  or  her 
colonies,  and  Spain  confirmed  a  recent  arrangement  by  which  the 
exclusive  right  to  import 
negro  slaves  into  the  Span¬ 
ish  Indies  was  granted  to 
England.  This  is  known 
as  the  Assien/o. 

By  this  treaty  England 
greatly  strengthened  her 
commercial  and  maritime 
position,  but  did  not  secure 
as  much  as  she  was  entitled 
to,  considering  Marl¬ 
borough’s  great  victories, 
and  the  enormous  expenses  the  war  had  entailed  upon  her.  France 
came  out  of  the  struggle  retaining  her  territories,  but  shorn  of  her 
prestige,  exhausted  financially  and  economically,  and  worst  of  all, 
retaining  the  system  of  absolutism  which  was  to  result  in  the  great 
revolution  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

516.  Union  of  England  and  Scotland  (1707);  Ireland. — 
Meanwhile  the  course  of  domestic  affairs  in  England  had  been  of 
no  little  interest.  First  of  importance  was  the  legislative  union 


Union  Jack 

Scotch  cross  of  St.  Andrew. 

cross  of  St.  George 


b.  English 


’  Several  tre.aties  were  required  to  arrange  the  great  variety  of  interests  involved, 
and  the  emperor  did  not  agree  to  terms  until  the  next  year ;  Peace  of  Rastadt 

(1714)- 


4H 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


of  England  and  Scotland.  Various  incidents  had  occurred  to  in¬ 
crease  the  ill  feeling  between  the  countries  until  it  was  clear  that 
unless  a  union  came  about  there  would  be  trouble.  A  joint  com¬ 
mission  in  which  each  country  was  equally  represented  was  ap¬ 
pointed  to  prepare  a  plan  of  union  (1706).  There  was  great 
opposition  in  Scotland  to  the  terms  agreed  upon,  but  finally,  the 
Scottish  Parliament  passed  the  bill  of  union,  which  was  ratified  by 
the  English  Parliament,  and  the  union  became  a  fact  May  i,  1707.^ 
Though  unpopular  in  Scotland,  and  to  some  extent  in  England, 
the  union  was  of  incalculable  advantage  to  each  country,  but  par¬ 
ticularly  to  Scotland. 

There  was  no  change  in  the  laws  against  Catholics  in  Ireland, 
and  the  commercial  regulations  which  practically  crushed  Irish 
trade  and  manufacturers  remained  unaltered. 

517.  Domestic  Politics  ;  Creation  of  Tory  Peers.  1711. — The 
Duchess  of  Marlborough,  by  her  arrogance  and  ill  temper,  gradually 
lost  her  influence  over  the  queen  and  her  place  was  taken  by  a 
Mrs.  Ma.sham,  a  strong  Tory.  A  new  Parliament  called  by  Anne 
had  in  it  a  large  majority  of  Tories  and  High  Churchmen.  A  Tory 
ministry  was  now  formed,  with  Robert  Harley,  soon  to  be  Earl  of 
Oxford,  and  Henry  St.  John,  afterwards  Viscount  Bolingbroke,  as 
chief  men.  It  was  through  their  influence  that  Marlborough  lost 
his  position  (§5 14).  There  was  still  a  Whig  majority  in  the  House 
of  Lords,  but  this  was  overcome  by  the  creation  of  twelve  peers 
by  the  queen.  This  action  was  of  more  than  temporary  importance, 
for  it  had  now  come  to  be  a  fact  that  the  ministry,  if  not  wholly 
the  ruling  power  in  the  state,  was  so  in  most  things.  A  precedent 

1  The  important  terms  were:  (i)  the  Electress  Sophia  and  her  heirs,  if  Prot¬ 
estants,  should  succeed  to  the  crown  of  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain ; 
(2)  the  two  countries  should  be  governed  by  one  Parliament  sitting  in  London,  in 
which  Scotland  should  be  represented  by  forty-five  members  in  the  Commons,  and 
in  the  House  of  Lords  by  sixteen  peers  elected  by  the  whole  body  of  Scottish  nobles 
for  every, Parliament ;  (3)  all  ports  of  England  and  her  colonies  should  be  open 
to  the  Scots;  (4)  Scotland  should  maintain  her  own  church  and  her  own  law;  (5) 
there  should  be  one  flag,  made  of  the  crosses  of  St.  Andrew  and  St.  George  com¬ 
bined;  this  came  to  be  known  as  the  “  Union  Jack." 


DEATH  OF  QUEEN  ANNE 


415 


was  established  which  hereafter  made  it  possible  for  the  government 
to  create  enough  new  peers  to  overcome  any  hostile  majority  in 
the  House  of  Lords  (§§  619,  693). 

518.  Occasional  Conformity  Act,  1711;  Schism  Act,  1714. — 
Two  intolerant  acts  were  passed  by  Anne’s  last  Parliament.  The 
first  of  these  was  the  Occasional  Conformity  Act  (1711).  This 
practically  drove  all  Dissenters  from  office.^  The  second  and 
far  worse  act  was  the  Schism  Act  (1714).  By  this  it  was  forbidden 
for  any  one  to  keep  a  school  unless  he  had  a  license  from  a  bishop 
of  the  Church  of  England.  This  would  prevent  any  Dissenter 
from  teaching  .in  any  public  or  private  school  and  would  force 
Dissenters,  if  they  sent  their  children  to  school,  to  send  them  to 
church  schools.  Through  the  efforts  of  the  Whigs,  schoolmistresses 
were  excepted  and  also  those  who  taught  only  reading,  writing, 
arithmetic,  and  a  few  other  elementary  subjects.  This  intolerant 
act  remained  in  force  four  years. 

519.  Death  of  Queen  Anne.  1714.  —  Just  at  this  time  the 
Electress  Sophia  died  at  the  age  of  eighty,  and  her  son  George 
became  the  heir  to  the  crown.  He  was  known  to  be  favorable  to 
the  Whigs,  and  opposed  to  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht  (§  515).  Queen 
Anne’s  health  was  poor,  and,  should  she  die,  it  was  practically 
certain  that  the  Tories  would  go  out  of  office.  The  sole  objection 
in  the  minds  of  many  High  Church  Tories  to  James  the  Pretender 
was  his  religion,  and  if  he  could  be  persuaded  to  turn  Protestant 
it  was  believed  that  the  Act  of  Succession  could  be  repealed.  James 
honorably  refused  to  change  his  religion.  Exactly  what  plans 
were  being  laid  is  not  known,  but  before  anything  was  matured 
Queen  Anne  died  suddenly  of  apoplexy  (August  i,  i  714).  Boling- 
broke  and  his  friends  were  unprepared,  and  the  Whig  members  of 
the  Council  were  able  to  proclaim  George,  Elector  of  Hanover,’* 
as  George  I,  King  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 

■  The  provisions  of  the  act  made  it  impossible  for  any  but  members  of  the 
Church  of  England  to  hold  office.  It  is  greatly  to  the  discredit  of  the  Whigs  in  the 
House  of  Lords  that  this  bill  was  passed  through  their  connivance. 

2  Though  he  is  usually  so  called,  the  correct  title  was  Brunswick-Liineburg. 


4i6 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


520.  George  I  (1660-1727).  1714.  —  George  Lewis  of  Han¬ 
over,  the  son  of  Sophia,  granddaughter  of  James  I,  was  now  fifty- 
four  years  old  ;  he  was  a  soldier  and  had  seen  active  service  in  the 
late  wars.  His  private  life  was  immoral ;  in  public  his  manners 
were  cold  and  unattractive.  Though  he  was  charged  with  being  slow 
in  intellect,  he  had  a  very  clear  idea  of  European  politics ;  he 
administered  his  paternal  inheritance  with  skill  and  success,  and 
he  was  much  liked  by  his  Hanoverian  subjects.  Notwithstanding 
the  fact  that  his  mother  spoke  English  fluently,  and  he  knew  that 

House  of  Brunswick  or  Hanover 

Sophia 

(Granddaughter  of  James  I) 

=  Ernest,  D.  of  Brunswick-Liineburg 


George  I  Sophia  Charlotte  Ernest  Augustus 

1714-1727  =  Frederick  I  of  Prussia  d.  1728 

=  Sophia  Dorothea 


George  H  Sophia  Dorothea  =  Frederick  William  I  of  Prussia 
1727-1760 

=  Caroline  of  Anspach 


Frederick  Anne  William  Mary  Louisa 

Prince  of  Wales  =  William  D.  of  Cumberland 
d.  1751  of  Orange  d.  1765 

=  Augusta 


Augusta  George  III 

1760-1820 
=  Charlotte 


George  Frederick  William  Edward  Ernest  Augustus  Aldolphus  six 
IV  D.  of  York  IV  I),  of  Kent  D.  of  d.  1843  D.  of  daughters 
1820-1830  d.  1827  1830-1837  d.  1820  Cumber-  Cambridge 

=  Caroline  =  Adelaide  =Victoria  land  d.  1850 

of  Brunswick  |  King  of  | 

I  Victoria  Hanover  | - 1 — - 1 

Princess  Charlotte  1837-1901  1837-  George  Augusta  Mary  Adelaide 

d.  1817  =  Albert  of  1851  of  d.  1900 

Saxe-Coburg-Gotha  |  Cambridge  =  Francis 

I  George  V  d.  1904  D.  of  Teck 

Edward  VII  of  Hanover  I 

.  I  1851-1866  I 

George  V  deposed  Victoria  Mary  (Princess  May) 
=  George,  Prince  of  Wales 
George  V 


THE  WHIGS  IN  POWER 


4^7 


he  would  probably  inherit  the  English  crown,  he  never  troubled 
himself  to  learn  the  English  language,  and  throughout  his  reign  of 
thirteen  years  he  never  was  able  to  converse  with  his  British  sub¬ 
jects  in  their  own  tongue.  He  never  cared  for  England,  and, 
whenever  it  was  practical,  gladly  visited  his  Hanoverian  dominions. 
He  was  endured 
by  his  British  sub¬ 
jects  as  a  neces¬ 
sity.  His  family 
life  was  tragic ; 
he  had  been  mar¬ 
ried  when  about 
twenty-one  to  his 
cousin,  Sophia 
Dorothea.  After 
eleven  years  he 
divorced  her  on  a 
charge  of  infidel¬ 
ity  and  imprisoned 
her  in  a  castle 
where  she  re¬ 
mained  till  her 
death,  a  period  of 
thirty-two  years.' 

He  hated  his 
eldest  son,  after¬ 
wards  George  1 1, 

521.  The  Whigs  in  Office  ;  Results  of  the  Accession  of  George  I. 
—  Though  ignorant  of  English  politics  and  English  ways,  George 
recognized  that  it  was  to  the  Whigs  he  owed  the  crown,  and  he 
intrusted  his  English  interests  to  the  Whig  statesmen.  He  was 


George  I 

After  the  painting  by  Sir  G.  Kellner 
and  never  was  fully  reconciled  to  him. 


'  There  is  no  doubt  that  there  were  faults  on  both  sides,  but  the  charges  made 
.against  the  unhappy  princess  have  never  been  proved,  and  the  whole  transaction  is 
a  terrible  stain  on  the  character  of  George. 


4i8 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


well  aware  of  the  influence  England  had  in  continental  affairs  and 
took  good  care  that  in  England’s  foreign  policy  the  interests  of 
Hanover  should  suffer  no  loss.  Notwithstanding  their  dislike  of 
George,  the  English  people  owe  him  a  large  debt  of  gratitude. 
His  ignorance  of  the  English  language  forced  him  to  govern 
through  ministers,  and  as  it  was  a  farce  for  him  to  preside  at  de¬ 
liberations  which  he  was  unable  to  follow,  he  set  the  precedent  of 
staying  away  from  councils.  The  result  of  this  practice  was  that 
the  ministers  of  the  crown  acquired  increased  power  and  be¬ 
came  to  a  very  large  extent  independent  of  the  king.  Moreover, 
as  it  was  needful  that  the  ministry  should  have  a  head,  the  office 
of  prime  minister  was  a  natural  development. 

It  also  became  more  and  more  evident  during  George’s  reign 
that  the  ministry  must  be  in  accord  with  the  majority  in  the  Com¬ 
mons,  for  as  the  Commons  held  the  purse  strings  of  the  nation, 
they  could  successfully  block  almost  any  action  of  the  cabinet, 
and  so  it  came  about  that  the  Commons  and  not  the  king  had 
the  final  voice  in  government.  The  fact  that  George  was  a 
foreigner,  more  interested  in  continental  affairs  than  in  English,  and 
moreover  unable  to  speak  the  English  language,  added  greatly  to 
the  ease  and  rapidity  of  the  change  to  a  limited  monarchy  and  free 
constitutional  government — a  change  which  came  about  peacefully. 

522.  Unequal  Representation  in  Parliament ;  Whigs  in  Power. 
1714.  —  The  House  of  Commons  represented  the  landholders  and 
the  merchants  rather  than  the  people.  Members  were  chosen 
much  as  they  had  been  in  the  days  of  Elizabeth  or  even  earlier, 
and  few  changes  had  been  made  in  the  election  districts.  Owing 
to  the  changes  of  population,  in  some  places  a  few  voters  chose 
two  members  of  Parliament,  while  in  others,  where  a  large  popu¬ 
lation  had  grown  up,  there  were  no  representatives,  because 
there  had  been  no  representative  a  century  or  more  earlier.  In 
the  country,  and  often  in  the  towns  or  boroughs  as  well,  the  large 
landholders  had  an  overwhelming  influence  in  elections.  The 
government  also  often  controlled  elections  by  its  influence  and  by 


UNEQUAL  REPRESENTATION  IN  PARLIAMENT  419 


bribery,  which  now  rightly  looked  upon  as  a  crime  was  then  a 
common  method  of  gaining  political  ends.  England  was,  there¬ 
fore,  an  aristocratic  rather  than  a  democratic  country.  The 
party  which  had  the  most  political  skill  was  the  one  likely  to 
get  control  and  retain  it.  The  Whigs  at  the  accession  of  George 
were  the  best  political  managers  ;  circumstances  favored  them, 
and  they  were  not  slow  to  see  their  advantage  and  seize  it, 
and  they  retained  the  direction  of  public  affairs  for  about  fifty 
years  (1714-1761).  While  there  is  much  to  blame  in  their 
methods,  their  long  rule,  which  was  based  upon  a  policy  of  peace, 
was  of  inestimable  benefit  to  England,  for  it  gave  her  not  only 
the  opportunity  to  extend  her  commerce  and  develop  her  manu¬ 
factures,  but  also  a  period  of  quiet  in  which  political  and  religious 
differences  became  less  and  less  .acute. 

523.  Whigs  and  Tories  (1714,  1715);  Riot  Act.  1715. — 
The  Whigs,  determined  to  get  rid  of  the  Tory  leaders,  impeached 
on  a  charge  of  high  treason  the  Earl  of  Oxford,  Bolingbroke,  and 
the  Duke  of  Ormond,  against  whom  there  was  suspicion  of  having 
held  communication  with  the  Pretender,  and  on  account  of  secret 
dealings  with  France  during  the  negotiations  connected  with  the 
Treaty  of  Utrecht  (§  515).  Bolingbroke  and  Ormond  fled  to  the 
Continent,  and  a  bill  of  attainder  was  passed  against  them.'  Ox¬ 
ford  was  tried  and  escaped  with  two  years’  imprisonment  in  the 
Tower.  There  were  still  many  Jacobites  in  the  country,  and 
having  failed  to  secure  their  end  by  intrigue,  they  resorted  to 
revolt.  There  were  riots  in  several  towns  and  to  cope  with  such 
occasions  a  new  Riot  Act  was  passed  (1715).^ 

524.  Scottish  Rising.  1715.  —  Louis  XIV,  in  defiance  of  the 
Treaty  of  Utrecht  (§  515),  not  only  allowed  the  Pretender  to  re- 

1  Bolingbroke  entered  into  the  service  of  the  Pretender,  becoming  his  chief 
adviser. 

2  By  this  act  a  crowd  consisting  of  more  than  twelve  persons  refusing  to  separate 
within  a  given  time,  after  notice  by  a  competent  authority,  might  be  dispersed,  and 
the  partakers  in  the  disturbance  held  guilty  of  felony,  while  those  who  might  take 
life  in  putting  down  the  mob  could  not  be  held  guilty  of  murder.  A  similar  act 
had  been  passed  in  the  time  of  Queen  Mary. 


420 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


main  in  France,  but  assisted  him  in  getting  ready  to  make  a 
descent  upon  Scotland.  While  these  preparations  were  going  on, 
Louis  died  (September  i,  1715.)  In  Scotland  the  union  was  still 
unpopular,  and  Argyll  (§  463),  who  had  espoused  the  Hanoverian 
side,  was  hated  by  the  Highlanders.  But  for  any  permanent  suc¬ 
cess  it  was  needful  for  the  Pretender  to  have  hearty  support  from 
France,  a  well-organized  plan,  enthusiasm  for  the  cause,  and 
simultaneous  risings  in  England  and  Scotland.  Not  one  of  these 
conditions  was  adequately  met.  The  Earl  of  Mar  raised  the 
standard  of  the  Pretender  in  the  Highlands,  September  6,  1715, 
and  a  month  later  (October  7)  there  was  a  rising  in  Northumber¬ 
land  under  the  Earl  of  Derwentwater  and  a  Mr.  Forster,  the 
member  of  Parliament  for  the  county.  These  latter  were  joined 
by  a  few  others,  and  also  by  a  number  of  Lowland  sympathizers 
from  Scotland.  The  combined  forces  reached  Preston,  where 
they  surrendered  to  the  king’s  army.  The  same  day  the  Earl  of 
Mar’s  army  was  checked  at  Sheriffmuir,  near  Dunblane,  and  he 
was  compelled  to  retreat.  James  landed  in  Scotland  in  Decem¬ 
ber  ;  but  the  Highlanders  had  gone  home  ;  the  English  risings 
had  been  put  down  ;  and  he  found  little  support ;  so  there  was 
nothing  left  for  him  but  to  return  to  France.  On  reaching  that 
country  he  dismissed  Bolingbroke,  the  only  one  of  his  followers 
who  had  given  him  the  good  advice  not  to  make  this  attempt.^ 

525.  Leaders  Executed;  Results  of  the  Rising. — The  Whigs 
treated  the  Scottish  rebels  with  comparative  leniency,  but  in 
England  the  Earls  of  Derwentwater  and  Kenmure  were  beheaded 
on  Tower  Hill,  and  thirty-eight  other  persons  were  put  to  death, 
many  were  banished  to  practical  slavery  in  the  West  Indies,  and 
many  estates  were  forfeited. 

The  failure  of  the  attempt  showed  conclusively  that  very  few  of 
the  English  nobles  and  gentry  were  willing  to  risk  their  lives  and 
property  in  any  attempt  to  restore  the  Stuarts. 

1  After  this  Bolingbroke  deserted  the  Pretender  and  turned  to  the  Hanoverians. 
He  was  able  to  return  to  England  in  1723  by  the  repeal  of  the  bill  against  him. 


SEPTENNIAL  ACT 


421 


526.  Septennial  Act,  1716;  Repeal  of  Occasional  Conformity  and 
Schism  Acts,  1718.  — On  the  plea  that  a  general  election  was 
unwise  in  the  disturbed  state  of  the  country,  the  Whig  Parliament 
passed  a  bill  extending  the  possible  duration  of  a  Parliament  to 
seven  years  (1716),'  and,  though  a  number  of  attempts  were  made 
to  return  to  triennial  Parliaments,  the  act  remained  in  force  until 
1911  (§  691),  when  the  limit  was  changed  to  five  years. ^ 

One  result  of  the  Pretender’s  attempt  was  that  the  Whigs,  de¬ 
sirous  of  gaining  the  support  of  the  Dissenters,  repealed  (1718) 
the  Schism  Act  of  1714  and  the  Occasional  Conformity  Act  of 
1711  (§518).  The  Test  and  Corporation  Acts  (§§451,  437) 
were  continued  for  many  years.® 

527.  Triple  Alliance.  1716.  — Hanover  was  threatened  both 
from  Sweden  and  Russia.  The  latter,  under  Peter  the  Great,  was 
now  entering  into  the  field  of  European  politics. 

Several  of  George’s  ministers  resigned  or  were  dismissed  because 
they  objected  to  defending  George’s  Hanoverian  dominions. 
Nevertheless  George  managed  to  form  in  1716  a  Triple  Alliance 
between  Holland,  France,  and  England;  for,  strange  as  it  may 
seem,  the  interests  of  these  three  nations  agreed,  or  seemed  to 
agree,  for  the  time.  Louis  XIV  was  succeeded  by  his  great  grand¬ 
son,  Louis  XV,  a  boy  whose  guardian  and  regent  was  Philip,  Duke 
of  Orleans,  the  next  heir  to  the  French  crown.  Philip  was  jealous 
of  Philip  V  of  Spain,  who,  moreover,  might  claim  the  French 
crown  in  case  of  the  death  of  Louis  XV,  who  was  a  sickly  lad. 
Peace  was  made  in  1720  and  for  twelve  years  Europe  was  quiet. 

528.  South  Sea  Scheme.  1711-1722.  — The  peace  policy  of 
the  Whigs  had  brought  great  commercial  prosperity  to  England, 
and  there  was  much  capital  to  be  invested.  As  always  happens 

1  Though  not  passed  until  May  7,  1716,  it  is  known  on  the  Statute  Books  as  the 
“  Septennial  Act  of  1715.” 

2  As  a  matter  of  fact,  very  few  Parliaments  have  lasted  over  six  years,  and  the 
average  duration  has  been  about  four  years. 

8 To  placate  the  Dissenters  an  indemnity  act  was  passed  relieving  them  from  the 
penalties  of  the  bills  if  they  did  not  conform  to  the  provisions.  Such  a  bill  was 
passed  annually  until  1828,  when  the  Test  Act  was  repealed. 


422 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


under  such  circumstances,  many  schemes  of  commercial  enter¬ 
prise  were  set  on  foot.  The  largest  and  most  venturesome  of 
these  was  carried  on  by  the  South  Sea  Company.  This  was  a 
trading  company  founded  in  17  ii  with  the  exclusive  right  of 
trading  in  the  South  Seas  (Pacific  Ocean)  in  accordance  with  the 


The  Old  South  Sea  House,  London 


terms  of  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht  (§  515).  It  had  been  very  suc¬ 
cessful  and  had  paid  good  dividends  on  its  stock.  As  the 
wealth  of  Spanish  America  was  believed  to  be  boundless,  the 
success  of  the  company  was  thought  to  be  assured.  The  South 
Sea  Company  now  offered  to  buy  up  the  national  debt,  on  which 
a  heavy  rate  of  interest  was  paid,  and  so  great  was  the  con¬ 
fidence  in  the  resources  of  the  corporation  that  a  bill  passed  Par¬ 
liament  (1720)  allowing  holders  of  the  national  debt  to  exchange 
their  government  securities  for  the  company’s  stock.  Thousands 
took  advantage  of  this  permission  and  the  shares  of  the  company 
rose  from  ^130  to  ^1000.  Not  only  this,  but  the  success  of 


SIR  ROBERT  WALPOLE 


423 


the  South  Sea  Company  encouraged  the  wildest  speculation  even 
for  the  most  absurd  purposes.^ 

It  was  not  long  before  the  reaction  came.  So  many  fraudulent 
schemes  were  exposed  that  public  confidence  was  destroyed  in  all 
schemes,  including  the  great  company,  and  in  one  month  its  shares 
fell  from  ^1000  to  75,  while  most  of  the  other  schemes  collapsed. 
Public  indignation  was  great,  especially  against  the  ministry  of  the 
crown  and  the  directors  of  the  South  Sea  Company.  The  latter  were 
disgraced  and  their  property  seized  and  sold  and  the  proceeds 
awarded  to  the  sufferers.  The  conduct  of*the  ministers  of  the 
crown  was  investigated.  One  of  them  was  expelled  for  corruption, 
one  committed  suicide,  one  died  of  apoplexy,  and  one  who  was 
acquitted  resigned  his  office  and  soon  afterwards  died.^ 

529.  Sir  Robert  Walpole.  1721. — The  fall  of  the  Whig 
ministry  brought  the  opposing  faction  into  power.  Fortunately  for 
Sir  Robert  Walpole,  the  late  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  he  had 
been  out  of  office  when  the  speculation  was  at  its  height,  and  he 
had  written  against  the  scheme ;  so,  though  he  had  accepted 
office  before  the  crash,  no  one  could  blame  him  for  the  disasters. 
He  was  believed  to  be  the  man  needed  to  meet  the  emergency, 
and  in  1721  he  became  not  only  first  lord  of  the  treasury  (the 
chief  man  in  the  cabinet)  but  also  chancellor  of  the  exchequer. 
He  was  the  best  financier  of  his  time  and  one  of  the  best  in  Eng¬ 
lish  history.  He  held  his  post  as  prime  minister  for  twenty-one 
years,  the  longest  tenure  of  that  office  in  English  annals.®  He  was 
born  in  1676  of  a  good  family;  he  was  educated  for  the  church 
at  Eton  and  Cambridge,  but  on  the  death  of  his  elder  brother  he 

'  Some  of  the  objects  for  which  men  seriously  ventured  their  money  were  :  to  make 
salt  water  fresh  ;  to  extract  silver  from  lead  ;  to  import  large  donkeys  from  Spain  ;  and 
even  for  “  an  undertaking  %yhich  shall  hereafter  be  revealed,”  the  projector  giving 
no  idea  of  the  character  of  the  enterprise,  but  nevertheless  finding  many  supporters. 

2  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  directors  of  the  company  suffered  unduly.  They 
had  been  guilty  of  bribery  and  had  been  very  unwise  in  their  administration,  but 
they  had  done  nothing  illegal  in  their  management. 

8  Walpole  was  nominally  out  of  office  for  a  few  days  at  the  time  of  the  death  of 
George  I  (§  531),  but  they  can  hardly  be  counted,  as  nothing  was  done  in  the 
interval. 


424 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


succeeded  to  the  family  estates,  and  entered  Parliament  at  the  age 
of  twenty-four  and  continued  a  member  until  raised  to  the  peerage 
in  1742.  He  had  a  remarkably  clear  head  for  business,  and  the 
duties  of  his  office  were  transacted  like  those  of  a  banker.  He 
had  the  knack  of  managing  men,  and  was  one  of  the  most  skillful 
of  political  leaders.  Like  many  of  the  prominent  men  of  his  time, 
his  private  life  was  immoral,  and  his  conversation  was,  even  for 
that  day,  unusually  gross.  He  cared  little  for  literature  and  art, 
and  his  recreation  was  fox-hunting.  Though  accused  of  enrich¬ 
ing  himself  at  the  public  expense,  his  enemies  were  unable  to  find 
proof  of  their  charges,  and  posterity  has  acquitted  him  of  this  ac¬ 
cusation.  Like  others  he  made  use  of  bribery  and  bought  and 
sold  votes  and  made  use  of  the  offices  within  his  gift  to  further  his 
ends,  but  not  as  would  seem  for  his  personal  benefit. 

530.  Walpole's  Policy ;  Death  of  George  I.  1727.  —  His  favor¬ 
ite  motto  was  “  Let  well  alone.”  He  has  been  charged  with  being 
an  enemy  to  reform,  jealous  of  rivals,  and  fond  of  peace  at  any 
price.'  The  charges  are  in  the  main  unjust,  for  he  saw  clearly 
that  peace  at  home  and  abroad  was  essential  to  real  prosperity, 
and  rather  than  disturb  that,  he’  was  willing  to  sacrifice  even  those 
things  that  he  would  have  been  glad  to  see  changed.  This  fact 
explains  his  attitude  toward  Dissenters  and  his  slowness  to  grant 
them  privileges  which  might  awaken  hostility  in  the  Tory  and 
High  Church  factions.  The  proof  of  the  shrewdness  of  his  policies 
is  shown  by  the  vast  strides  in  wealth  and  prosperity  made  by 
England  during  his  lease  of  power.  While  the  prosperity  was 
ultimately  due  to  natural  causes,  Walpole  by  his  policy  afforded 
a  favorable  opportunity  for  these  causes  to  work.  He  believed 
in  colonial  expansion  and  favored  the  trade  of  the  colonies,  grant¬ 
ing  them  special  trading  privileges,  and  more  than  once  refused  to 
allow  laws  to  be  passed  restricting  colonial  interests.  He  was 

'  On  one  occasion  he  said,  “  The  most  pernicious  circumstances  in  which  this 
country  can  be  are  those  of  war ;  as  we  must  be  losers  while  it  lasts  and  cannot  be 
great  gainers  when  it  ends.” 


WALPOLE’S  POLICY 


425 


lax  in  enforcing  the  Navigation  Acts  (§  443)  which  would 
operate  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  colonies.  His  principle  was 
“  the  greater  the  prosperity  of  the  colonies,  the  greater  would  be 
their  demand  for  English  goods ;  and  that  was  the  true  way  in 
which  to  turn  colonies  into 
a  source  of  ^wealth  to  a 
mother  country.” 

Among  the  beneficial 
acts  of  Walpole  was  a  re¬ 
form  of  the  tariff  laws.  He 
placed  many  articles  of  im¬ 
port  and  export  on  the  free 
list  and  reduced  duties, 
especially  on  the  neces¬ 
saries  of  life.  In  one  case 
his  plan  for  a  reform  of 
taxation  nearly  cost  him 
his  position.  This  was  the 
famous  Excise  (or  Internal 
Revenue)  Bill.  Those  who 
fancied  themselves  injured 
by  the  plan  set  up  such  a  strong  opposition,  and  created  so  much 
excitement,  that  Walpole  deemed  it  wise  to  withdraw  the  bill, 
though  it  could  have  been  passed.  He  declined  to  pass  a  measure 
which  might  have  to  be  carried  out  by  arms,  saying,  “  I  will  not 
be  the  minister  to  enforce  taxes  at  the  expense  of  blood.” 

George  I,  while  on  his  way  to  Hanover,  was  struck  down  with 
apoplexy  and  died  near  Osnabriick,  1727. 

References. —  Green,  Short  History^  chap,  ix,  §§  7-10;  Gardiner,  Student's 
History^  chaps,  xlii-xlv  (§  19);  Terry,  History,  Part  IV,  chaps,  i-iii,  p.  877; 
Tout,  Advanced  History,  Book  VI,  chaps,  vi-vii.  Book  VII,  chap,  i;  Traill, 
Social  England,  vol.  IV,  chap,  xvi;  Adams  and  Stephens,  Select  Docu¬ 
ments,  §§  235-248;  Cheyney,  Readings,  chap,  xvii,  §§  i-iii;  Colby,  Selec¬ 
tions,  §§  83-89;  Kendall,  Source-Book,  §§  102,  115;  Lee,  Source-Book, 

§§  189-195- 


Sir  Robert  W.vlpole,  afterw.vrds  E.uil 
OF  Orford 


CHAPTER  XXIV 


GROWTH  OF  PARLIAMENT  AND  PARTY  GOVERNMENT 

(Continued) 

531.  George  II  (1683-1760).  1727.  —  George  II  was  forty- 

four  at  the  time  of  his  accession.  He  was  perhaps  quite  as 
German  in  his  tastes  as  his  father,  but  was  able  to  speak  English 
fluently.  He  was  a  brave  soldier,  he  had  a  good  knowledge  of 
foreign  politics,  and  understood  British  affairs  fairly  well.  He  was 
businesslike,  inclined  to  be  just,  but  like  his  family,  frequently  un¬ 
reasonable  and  always  obstinate.  Immoral  in  his  private  life  as 
his  father  had  been,  he  was  unlike  him  in  that  he  had,  and  justly, 
the  highest  respect  for  his  wife  and  for  her  judgment.'  “  He 
hated  his  eldest  son  with  the  greatest  bitterness,  much  more 
bitterly  than  his  father  Irated  him.”  He  was  avaricious  and 
niggardly  and  disliked  nothing  so  much  as  spending  money  or 
giving  it  away.  In  person  he  was  small  and  dapper,  and  while 
not  handsome,  was  far  from  commonplace  in  appearance. 

As  George  I  had  hated  his  son  it  had  been  needful  for  Walpole 
also  to  be  opposed  to  him,  so  when  George  II  came  to  the  throne 
he  had  no  mind  to  retain  Walpole  in  office.  His  first  act  was 
to  offer  the  position  of  prime  minister  to  Sir  Spencer  Compton, 
speaker  of  the  Commons,  but  his  incapacity  for  the  office  was  so 
clearly  shown  that  before  George  made  his  first  speech  to  Parlia¬ 
ment,  through  the  influence  of  Queen  Caroline,  who  was  fully 
aware  of  Walpole’s  ability,  Walpole  was  restored  to  his  post. 

iHis  wife  was  Caroline  of  Anspach;  they  were  married  in  1705.  She  was 
"  alert,  sprightly,  and  keen  .  .  .  the  impersonation  of  good  sense.”  How  her  power 
over  him  was  regarded  is  shown  by  a  couplet  of  the  time : 

“  You  may  strut,  dapper  George,  but  ’twill  all  be  in  vain; 

We  know  'tis  Queen  Caroline,  not  you,  who  reign.” 

426 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  II 


427 

532.  Increasing  Power  of  Walpole.  —  The  new  Parliament  met 
with  a  Whig  majority  in  1728.  Selfish  as  Walpole  undoubtedly 
was,  he  had  the  right  idea  of  the  character  of  a  government  for 
Great  Britain.  Before  Walpole’s  time  each  member  of  a  cabinet 
administered  the  affairs  of 
his  department  very  much 
as  he  pleased,  and  for  his 
own  interests.  Walpole  be¬ 
lieved  that  as  he  had  the 
responsibility  he  should 
direct  the  course  of  the 
government,  especially  as 
all  looked  to  him  for  the 
financial  means  to  carry  on 
the  business  of  state. 

Gradually  he  got  rid  of 
troublesome  ministers,  and 
practically  ruled  alone,  his 
companions  being  men  of 
second-rate  ability. 

533.  Opposition  Party.  —  The  opposition  party  received  re¬ 
cruits  from  the  Tories.  Bolingbroke,  having  obtained  permission, 
returned  to  England  (1723)  (§  524),  and  immediately  began 
to  organize  a  new  Tory  Party  supporting  the  Hanoverian  dynasty, 
for  he  saw  that  the  cause  of  the  Stuarts  was  lost.  He  associated 
himself  with  the  old  Tories,  the  discontented  Whigs,  and  later 
with  Frederick,  Prince  of  Wales,  thus  forming  the  opposition 
party  to  Walpole,  who  was  attacked  with  the  greatest  vigor  both 
by  means  of  the  press  and  also  in  Parliament.  They  called 
themselves  “  Patriots  ”  and  “  patriot  Whigs,”  claiming  for  them¬ 
selves  every  patriotic  virtue. 

534.  Walpole’s  Domestic  and  Foreign  Policies.  —  Walpole’s 
domestic  policy  was  acceptable  to  the  money  and  substantial 
interests,  but  his  administration  of  foreign  affairs  was  not  popular. 


George  II 


428 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


though  he  had  acted  with  extraordinary  skill  in  furthering  the 
cause  of  peace  in  Europe.  Queen  Caroline,  who  had  steadily 
used  her  influence  with  the  king  in  Walpole’s  favor,  died  in  1737. 

Walpole  neither  cared  for  literature  nor  appreciated  the  value 
of  literary  support.  Bolingbroke,  Gay,  Swift,  Arbuthnot,  and 
Pope,  all  writers  of  ability,  wrote  for  the  opposition  and  often 
directly  and  bitterly  against  Walpole.  He  also  undervalued  the 
assistance  of  young  men,  calling  them  “  the  boys,  ”  and  affected 
to  despise  them. 

535.  Spain;  War  of  Jenkins’s  Ear,  1739;  Walpole  Resigns, 
1742.  —  By  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht  (§  515)  England  had  been 
restricted  to  “  one  ship  a  year  ”  in  trading  with  the  Spanish 
colonies.  But  by  means  of  various  subterfuges  this  trade  was 
increased,  and  there  was  also  much  smuggling.  This  incensed 
Spain,  already  angry  with  England  for  her  retention  of  Gibraltar. 
Spain  not  only  claimed,  but  exercised,  the  right  of  searching  vessels 
in  the  West  Indies  for  contraband  goods.  There  were  also  stories 
of  great  cruelty  practiced  by  Spaniards  against  Englishmen  seized 
for  smuggling  or  other  violations  of  the  maritime  or  custom  laws. 
One  case  brought  prominently  before  the  country  was  that  of  a 
Captain  Jenkins,  who,  claiming  that  his  ear  had  been  cut  off  by 
the  Spaniards,  exhibited  the  ear  in  proof  of  his  assertions.^ 
Walpole  was  forced  to  declare  war  against  Spain,  and  the  “  War  of 
Jenkins’s  ear”  (1739)  was  the  result.  This  conflict  was  an  unsuc¬ 
cessful  one  and  seriously  injured  Walpole’s  prestige. 

When  a  new  Parliament  met,  it  was  found  that  his  majority  was 
small.  He  was  defeated  in  a  contested  election  case,  and  then 
resigned,  1742.  He  was  created  Earl  of  Orford  and  entered  the 
House  of  Lords.  His  health  failed  and  he  died  in  1745.  Thus 
closed  a  long  and  successful  career.  He  had  entered  office  when 
affairs  in  England  were  gloomy ;  he  left  it  with  England  pros¬ 
perous  4s  she  had  never  been  before. 

1  The  story  of  Jenkins  was  long  disbelieved  in  by  many,  but  documentary  evi¬ 
dence  has  recently  turned  up  confirming  his  tale. 


WAR  OF  THE  AUSTRIAN  SUCCESSION 


429 


536.  War  of  the  Austrian  Succession.  1740-1748. —  Mean¬ 
time  the  Emperor  Charles  VI  had  died  (1740),  and,  according  to 
the  Pragmatic  Sanction,  his  daughter  Maria  Theresa  was  the 
successor  to  his  hereditary  dominions.^  The  Elector  of  Bavaria, 
who  had  been  chosen  Emperor  as  Charles  VII,  claimed  the 
Austrian  dominions  as  a  male  heir,  and  was  supported  in  his  claim 
by  France  and  Spain.  Thus  began  the  War  of  the  Austrian 
Succession  (i  740-1 748),  carried  on  not  only  in  Europe,  but  also  in 
the  colonies  as  well.  In  the  American  Colonies  the  war  between 
England  and  France  was  known  as  King  George’s  War  (1744-1748). 

537.  War  with  France  and  Spain  ;  The  Young  Pretender,  1745. 
—  The  real  stake  at  issue  in  this  conflict  was  colonial  and  maritime 
supremacy.  F'rance,  to  divert  the  attention  of  Fbigland,  planned 
(1744)  an  invasion  of  England  in  favor  of  Charles  Etlward,  the  son 
of  the  Pretender,^  and  hence  called  the  Young  Pretender.  Had 
not  a  severe  storm  wrecked  the  fleet  intended  to  carry  the  Young 
Pretender,  an  invasion  would  have  followed. 

Meanwhile  Charles  Edward  gathered  together  a  few  followers, 
and  with  only  two  ships  sailed  for  Scotland  to  attempt  to  win 
over  the  Highland  clans  to  his  cause.  He  landed  with  seven 
companions  (July  25,  1745)  at  Moidart  on  the  west  coast.  Re¬ 
ceived  at  first  with  coolness,  enthusiasm  was  soon  aroused,  and  a 
small  force  gathered  around  him.  The  English  commander  in 
Scotland  was  an  incompetent  man,  and  Charles  gained  a  victory 
at  Prestonpans  (September  21,  1745),  which  gave  him  the  control 
of  Scotland.  He  proclaimed  his  father  as  James  VHI  of  Scot-, 
land  at  Edinburgh,  and  remained  two  months  in  the  capital. 

1  Charles  VI  had  been  elected  emperor  of  Germany  at  the  death  of  his  brother 
Joseph  in  1711,  and  had  succeeded  him  as  Archduke  of  Austria.  He  had  no  son 
and  wished  his  daughter  to  succeed  to  his  Austrian  possessions.  No  woman  had 
held  this  position,  and  to  insure  her  succession  he  issued  a  document  called  a 
Pragmatic  Sanction,  and  presented  it  to  the  chief  powers  of  Europe  to  secure  their 
support  or  sanction.  England  was  one  of  those  that  signed. 

2  James,  the  “  Old  Pretender,"  was  advanced  in  years,  and  it  was  planned  that 
his  son  should  act  as  his  regent.  Charles  Edward  was  twenty-four  years  old,  and 
very  attractive  in  manners  and  person. 


430 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


538.  The  Young  Pretender  in  England,  1 745  ;  Culloden,  1 746. 
—  Disappointed  in  the  failure  of  the  lowland  Scots  to  support 
him,  he  decided  to  march  into  England,  an  undertaking  which 
even  his  own  supporters  regarded  as  foolhardy.  In  England 
he  received  little  or  no  support,  and  on  reaching  Derby  his 
condition  became  critical,  for  his  soldiers,  unaccustomed  to  cam¬ 
paigning,  were  getting  weary,  and  large  royalist  forces  were  collect¬ 
ing  to  attack  him.  By  the  advice  of  his  officers  he  returned  reluc¬ 
tantly  to  Scotland.^  He  retired  with  a  dwindling  army  towards 
Inverness,  and  at  Culloden  Moor  met  with  a  crushing  defeat  by 
the  much  larger  royal  army  under  the  Duke  of  Cumberland  (April 
16,  1746).  Every  effort  was  made  to  capture  Charles  Edward, 
but  though  a  reward  of  ^30,000  was  offered  for  him,  he  was  not 
betrayed,  and  after  a  series  of  most  romantic  adventures  he 
escaped  to  France. 

539.  Severe  Measures  in  Scotland;  End  of  the  Stuarts. — The 
punishment  meted  out  to  the  Jacobites  was  severe  ;  three  Scottish 
nobles  were  executed,  and  about  eighty  other  persons  were  put  to 
death  with  all  the  barbarous  customs  which,  even  in  the  middle  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  were  regarded  as  allowable  by  the  upper 
classes,  and  were  witnessed  by  crowds  of  the  lower  classes  with  a 
vulgar  but  eager  appetite  for  the  horrible.  In  addition  to  this, 
very  many  were  transported,  and  the  clans  were  disarmed  and 
forbidden  to  wear  their  national  costume.^  Garrisons  were  stationed 
at  various  places,  and  the  hereditary  jurisdiction  of  the  chiefs  was 
abolished.  As  one  result  of  this  policy  there  were  many  emigrations. 
Population  became  sparse  in  many  parts,  and  the  Highlands  never 
regained  their  former  condition. 

From  this  time  the  fortunes  of  Charles  Edward  became  worse 
and  worse.  As  a  young  man  he  was  handsome,  affable,  brave  to 
daring,  and  was  possessed  of  considerable  intelligence  ;  but,  like 

1  It  is  .possible  that,  had  Charles  followed  his  own  wishes  and  pushed  on  to 
London,  which  was  unprepared  to  resist  him,  he  might  have  succeeded  in 
gaining  for  a  short  time  the  crown  of  England. 

2  This  restriction  was  removed  at  a  later  period. 


END  OF  THE  STUARTS 


431 


all  his  family,  he  was  obstinate.  It  is  said  that  he  acquired  the 
habit  of  drinking  to  excess  during  his  Scottish  campaigns  ;  however 
that  may  be,  in  later  life  he  became  a  confirmed  profligate  and 
lost  all  his  friends.  He  died  at  Rome  in  1 788,  leaving  no  child  to 
inherit  his  claims.*  His  only  brother,  Henry,  entered  the  Catholic 
priesthood,  was  made  a  cardinal,  and  died  1807.  With  him  the 
direct  Stuart  line  ended.^ 

540.  Peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle.  1748.  —  Meanwhile  the  War  of 
the  Austrian  Succession  continued.  The  French  were  successful 
in  the  Austrian  Netherlands  ;  but  they  found  the  Dutch  no  easier  to 
conquer  than  in  the  days  of  Louis  XIV.  What  success  they  had 
in  Europe  was  more  than  balanced  by  the  loss  of  Cape  Breton  in 
America,  and  other  colonial  possessions,  and  by  their  defeats  at 
sea.  The  Spaniards  had  been  plundered  in  the  Pacific  by  Com¬ 
modore  Anson,  a  British  sailor,  who,  circumnavigating  the  globe 
in  his  voyage,  almost  repeated  the  story  of  Drake,  and  like  Drake, 
was  himself  rewarded  with  a  title. 

By  1748  the  contestants  were  ready  for  peace  and  the  Treaty  of 
Aix-la-Chapelle  (Aachen)  was  signed  (October  7),  which  recognized 
Maria  Theresa,  and  also  the  Hanoverian  succession  in  England, 
provided  that  the  Pretender  should  be  expelled  from  France,  and 
settled  some  other  minor  points  of  dispute. 

541.  Reformation  of  Calendar.  1752.  —  In  1751,  P’rederick, 
Prince  of  Wales,  died,  and  his  son,  thirteen  years  old,  afterwards 

1  The  times  of  the  Young  Pretender  are  immortalized  in  Scott’s  Waverley,  and 
other  of  the  Waverley  novels,  and  also  in  many  songs,  especially  those  by  Lady 
Nairne. 

2  During  the  last  years  of  Henry,  George  III  allowed  him  a  pension  of  /^40oo  a 
year.  At  his  death  in  1807  Henry  left  to  the  English  monarch  the  crown  jewels 
which  James  II  had  taken  with  him  in  his  flight  from  England  in  1688.  George  IV 
erected  in  St.  Peter’s,  Rome,  a  fine  monument  by  Canova  to  the  memory  of  the  ex¬ 
iled  Stuarts.  Queen  Victoria,  on  a  visit  to  Paris,  seeing  that  the  monument  to  James 
1 1  at  St.  Germain’s  was  dilapidated,  had  it  renewed  at  her  own  expense.  She  had 
to  the  last  a  fondness  for  her  Stuart  ancestry.  The  "  legitimate  Stuart  heir,"  by  the 
strict  laws  of  hereditary  descent,  is  a  member  of  the  family  of  the  Dukes  of  Modena 
(Italy),  lineal  descendants  of  Henrietta,  daughter  of  Charles  I,  who  married  the 
Duke  of  Orleans  and  died  in  1670. 


432 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


George  III,  became  the  heir  to  the  throne.  In  1752  the  calendar 
was  reformed  by  the  adoption  of  the  Gregorian  Calendar,  known 
as  the  “  New  Style,”  which  had  already  been  adopted  by  most  of 
the  European  nations.  The  year  was  made  to  begin  with  January 
ist  instead  of  March  25th,  and  in  order  to  make  the  reckoning 
conform  to  the  new  style  eleven  days  were  dropped  in  the  month 
of  September,  the  third  of  that  month  being  called  the  14th.  So 
many  persons  did  not  understand  the  need  of  the  change  that  there 
was  considerable  excitement  and  the  matter  was  made  a  political 
one.  Some  even  cried  out,  “  Give  us  back  our  eleven  days.”  ^ 

542.  William  Pitt. — At  the  retirement  of  Walpole  there  was 
no  man  fitted  to  take  his  place,  but  there  was  a  young  man  coming 
into  public  notice,  who  was  shortly  to  become  one  of  England’s 
ablest  statesmen  ;  this  was  William  Pitt,  afterwards  known  as  “the 
Great  Commoner,”  though  as  a  matter  of  fact  he  was  the  repre¬ 
sentative  of  the  influential  Whig  families  rather  than  of  the 
people.  William  Pitt,  born  in  1708,  was  educated  at  Eton  and 
Oxford ;  owing  to  ill  health  he  did  not  complete  his  course  at  the 
university,  but  spent  some  time  in  foreign  travel.  Entering 
Parliament  in  1735  as  a  member  for  Old  Sarum,^  he  first  attracted 
attention  by  his  eloquence.  Unfortunately  there  was  no  accurate 
system  of  reporting  in  those  days,  but  judging  by  the  accounts  of 
those  who  heard  him  and  by  the  effects  produced,  it  is  perhaps 
safe  to  say  that  he  has  never  been  surpassed  in  the  halls  of  Par¬ 
liament.^  He  was  tall  and  handsome  in  appearance,  but  haughty 
and  affected  in  his  manners,  self-confident,  and  often  overbearing. 

■  With  the  exception  of  Russia,  all  civilized  nations  now  employ  the  Gregorian 
calendar,  so  called  from  Pope  Gregory  XIII  (1572-1585),  under  whose  patronage 
the  system  was  devised. 

2  This  was  what  was  known  as  a  “  family  borough,"  that  is,  there  were  so  few 
voters  that  one  family  was  able  to  control  the  election.  Old  Sarum  was  perhaps 
the  most  glaring  example  of  the  kind;  at  the  time  of  the  Reform  Bill  of  1832  it  is 
said  that  there  were  no  residents,  and  two  members  of  Parliament  were  elected  by  a 
single  property  holder. 

3  It  was  said  of  his  eloquence  "  that  it  impressed  every  hearer  with  the  conviction 
that  there  was  something  in  him  even  finer  than  his  words;  that  the  man  was  in¬ 
finitely  greater  than  the  orator." 


BEGINNINGS  OF  COLONIAL  EMPIRE 


433 


On  the  other  hand,  he  was  upright,  earnest,  patriotic,  and  in  an  age 
when  few  public  men  hesitated  to  take  bribes  or  to  use  public 
position  for  private  advantage,  Pitt  was  stainlessly  honest  and  never 
bettered  his, private  fortune  or  position  at  the  public  expense. 
Ambitious  as  he  was,  he  never  hesitated  to  oppose  the  popular 
opinion  if  he  believed 
that  it  was  in  error. 

543.  Colonial  Em¬ 
pire  in  India  and 
America.  —  The 
Treaty  of  Aix-la- 
Chapelle  (1748) 

(§  540)  left  unsettled 
the  question  of  the 
control  of  the  great 
colonial  empire 
which  was  opening 
before  the  nations  of 
Europe.  Spain  was 
barely  able  to  hold 
what  she  had  gained, 
and  the  great  com¬ 
petitors  for  what  was 
left  were  Trance  and  England.  The  fields  of  action  were  India 
and  America.  Ever  since  the  fifteenth  century  India  had  been  an 
object  of  desire  to  European  nations,  and  the  English  East  India 
Company  (founded  in  1600)  had  been  very  successful.  It  possessed 
trading  posts  at  Fort  William  (Calcutta),  Bombay,  Fort  St.  George 
(Madras),  and  at  other  places.  The  French  had  not  been  idle,  and 
they  also  had  trading  posts  at  various  points,  the  most  important 
of  which  was  Pondicherry,  not  far  from  Madras. 

544.  French  Policy  in  India  ;  Clive  ;  “  Black  Hole  of  Calcutta.” 
1766.  —  For  many  years  the  rivalry  between  the  French  and  Eng¬ 
lish  in  India  had  been  commercial  rivalry  alone,  but  now  cir- 


WiLLiAii  Pitt,  First  E^vrl  of  Ch.\tham 


434 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


cumstances  were  such  that  political  rivalry  was  almost  inevitable. 
India  had  been  controlled  by  the  great  Mogul  empire  which  had 
lately  broken  up  ;  and  the  number  of  small  states  which  had  been 
formed  was  the  cause  of  much  confusion.  « 

The  French  general-commandant,  Dupleix,  an  able  and  ambitious 

man,  believed  that 
by  setting  the  na¬ 
tives  against  one 
another  he  could 
gain  for  France  a 
commanding  posi¬ 
tion  in  India.  He 
also  saw  the  possi¬ 
bility  of  so  training 
native  troops  that 
large  numbers  of 
recruits  from  France 
could  be  dispensed 
with.  As  early  as 
the  war  of  the  Aus¬ 
trian  Succession  he 
had  begun  to  carry  out  his  policy  and  had  captured  Madras  from 
the  English,  but  had  been  compelled  to  restore  it  by  the  terms 
of  peace.  But  he  had  met  his  match  in  a  young  Englishman, 
Robert  Clive,'  who  was  so  successful  that  Dupleix  was  recalled  by 


Robert,  Lord  Clive 


•  Robert  Clive,  the  son  of  a  bankrupt  Shropshire  squire,  was  an  unruly  lad,  and 
when  at  the  age  of  eighteen  he  was  offered  a  clerkship  in  the  East  India  Company  s 
service  in  India,  he  accepted  it.  His  early  adventures  form  a  romantic  if  not 
tragic  story.  It  was  not  long  before  he  entered  the  military  service,  and  soon 
showed  his  ability.  He  rapidly  rose  in  position,  and  defeated  the  French  and 
natives  in  many  engagements,  some  of  them  against  great  odds.  Invalided  to 
England  in  1753,  he  paid  his  father’s  debts.  Returning  to  India  in  lySS.  Ite  again 
entered  upon  a  career  of  great  military  success.  Returning  to  England,  he  was  a 
member  of  Parliament  (1760-1774).  He  was  created  Baron  Clive  in  the  Irish 
peerage.  ‘  He  was  again  in  India  (1765-1766)  and  showed  himself  equally  successful 
in  civil  affairs.  He  returned  to  England  for  the  last  time  in  1766.  He  was  vigor¬ 
ously  attacked  by  his  political  enemies  and  those  whose  enmity  he  had  incurred  in 


THE  BRITISH  IN  INDIA 


435 


India.  Worried  at  these  attacks  and  in  poor  health,  he  committed  suicide  when 
but  forty-nine  (1774).  His  conduct  in  more  than  one  instance  was  open  to  question 
according  to  modern  ideas,  but  he  must  be  judged  in  accordance  with  the  standards 


436 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


the  French  government  (1754).  In  1756  the  Nawab^  of  Bengal, 
angered  against  the  English,  attacked  Calcutta,  which  was  unpre¬ 
pared,  and  captured  it.  The  English  were  treated  without  mercy. 
One  hundred  and  forty-six  prisoners  were  confined  in  a  room  less 
than  twenty  feet  square  on  one  of  the  hottest  nights  (June  20, 

1756)  of  a  tropical  climate.  The  guards  were  deaf  to  all  en¬ 
treaties,  and  the  sufferings  of  the  prisoners  were  terrible.  In  the 
morning  only  twenty-three  survivors,  weak  and  ghastly,  were 
dragged  out.  “The  Black  Hole  of  Calcutta”  remains  in  history 
as  an  awful  example  of  suffering.^  Clive  hastened  to  avenge  this 
act,  retook  Calcutta,  and  later,  at  the  battle  of  Plassey  (June  23, 

1757) ,  inflicted  a  crushing  defeat  upon  a  vastly  larger  force  of 
natives,  secured  Bengal  for  England,  and  so  laid  the  foundation  of 
England’s  empire  in  the  East. 

545.  The  War  in  America.  1754-1755-  — Hostilities  had  al¬ 
ready  broken  out  between  France  and  England  in  America. 
Tlie  French  controlled  the  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  had 
established  a  chain  of  forts  and  trading-posts  in  the  Mississippi 
valley.  One  of  the  most  important  of  their  posts  was  Fort 
Duquesne,  at  the  junction  of  the  Allegheny  and  Monongahela 
rivers.  Alarmed  at  the  advance  of  the  French,  the  legislature  of 
Virginia  sent  a  small  force  to  reconnoiter  and  to  guard  the  frontier. 
I'he  colonists  under  Major  George  Washington  were  unsuccessful 
,and  later  were  compelled  to  surrender  to  superior  forces  (July  4, 
1 754).*  The  next  year  General  Braddock  was  sent  out  from 
England  as  commander-in-chief  of  the  American  forces.  He 
determined  to  secure  Fort  Duquesne,  and  against  the  advice  of 
Franklin,  Washington,  and  others,  attacked  the  French  and  was 
defeated,  he  himself  being  killed  (July  13,  1755). 

of  the  age  in  which  he  lived  and  the  circumstances  which  surrounded  him.  “  He 
was  great  in  council,  great  in  war,  great  in  his  exploits,  which  were  many,  and  great 
in  his  faults,  which  were  few.”  '  Nawdb  Surajah  Dowlah  (Sirdj-ud-Dauld). 

2  See  Macaulay's  famous  description  in  his  Essay  on  Clive. 

3  This  skirmish  was  really  the  beginning  of  the  Seven  Years’  War,  one  of  the 
most  momentous  struggles  in  its  results  of  any  of  the  wars  of  modern  times. 


THE  SEVEN  YEARS’  WAR 


437 


546.  The  Seven  Years’  War,  1756-1763;  Political  Condi¬ 
tions. —  In  1756  war,  known  as  “The  Seven  Years’  War,”  was 
declared  in  Europe.  Nominally  waged  to  establish  the  balance 
of  power  in  Europe,  the  real  causes  of  the  war  were  commercial 
and  colonial  (compare  §  537).  The  conflict  in  Europe  was  begun 
by  Frederic  the  Great  of  Prussia  invading  Saxony,  and  the  French 
capturing  Minorca  from  the  English,  both  in  1756. 

The  English  cabinet  was  weak,  and  owing  to  the  dislike  of  George 
II,  Pitt  was  kept  in  the  background.  For  about  forty  years  the 
English  and  Austrians  had  been  on  friendly  terms,  mainly  because 
both  nations  had  reason  to  fear  Prussia.  Now,  however,  Austria, 
believing  that  she  could  get  more  out  of  France  than  England, 
made  overtures  to  that  country ;  while  George  II,  thinking  that 
it  was  safer  to  have  Frederic  as  a  friend  than  an  enemy,  joined 
in  alliance  with  him.  The  result  was  that  Europe  became  divided 
into  two  great  leagues,  —  Austria,  Russia,  France,  and  Saxony  on 
the  one  side  and  Prussia  and  England  on  the  other. 

547.  William  Pitt  and  the  War. — The  early  days  of  the  war 
were  gloomy  for  England.  News  from  the  Continent,  India,  and 
America  was  discouraging.  The  popular  indignation  in  England  was 
great,  and  a  new  ministry  was  formed  by  the  alliance  of  the  Duke 
of  Newcastle  and  William  Pitt,  whom  popular  demand  forced  into 
the  cabinet  (1757).  Pitt  became  secretary  of  state  and  prac¬ 
tically  prime  minister,  while  Newcastle  looked  after  the  patronage. 

Pitt’s  self-confidence  stood  him  in  good  stead.  “  I  am  sure 
that  I  can  save  the  country,”  he  is  reported  to  have  said,  “  and 
I  am  sure  that  no  one  else  can.”  Never  perhaps  has  there  been 
a  better  example  of  the  power  of  a  strong  and  able  man.  He 
had  a  remarkable  frculty  for  putting  the  right  man  in  the  right 
place,  and  defeats  were  soon  turned  into  victories.  He  paid 
heavy  sums  of  money  to  Frederic  to  aid  him,  “  for,”  he  said, 
“  America  must  be  conquered  in  Germany.” 

548.  Results  of  Pitt’s  Policy;  Quebec,  1759. — The  aid  and 
encouragement  of  Pitt  inspired  confidence  everywhere.  Hanover, 


438 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


lost  for  a  time  to  the  French,  was  recovered  at  Minden  (1759)  ; 
Admiral  Hawke  defeated  the  French  at  Quiberon  (Brittany) 
(1759);  Louisburg  (Cape  Breton)  was  destroyed  (1758);  and 
the  French  abandoned  Fort  Duquesne,  which  was  occupied  by  the 
English  and  renamed  Fort  Pitt  (Pittsburgh)  in  honor  of  William 
Pitt  (1758).  In  1759  an  expedition  was  sent  under  General 
James  Wolfe  to  capture  Quebec.  Here  the  French  under  the 
Marquis  de  Montcalm  made  a  brave  defense  on  the  Heights  of 
Abraham,  a  battle  in  which  both  generals  fell  (September  13,  1759). 
But  England  won.  With  the  fall  of  Montreal  (1760)  all  Canada 
came  under  British  control,  and  with  the  exception  of  New  Orleans, 
France  had  lost  everything  on  the  American  continent. 

Though  Pitt  had  spent  enormous  sums  of  money,  the  results 
were  correspondingly  great.  He  had  put  England  in  the  fore¬ 
most  place  in  naval,  commercial,  and  colonial  matters,  he  had  re¬ 
gained  Hanover  for  the  Georges,  he  had  strengthened  if  not 
saved  Prussia,  and  had  prevented  France  from  gaining  the 
supremacy  in  Europe. 

549.  Death  of  George  II,  1760;  George  III,  1738-1820. — 
Just  at  this  time  George  H  died  (October  25,  1760)  and  his  grand¬ 
son  George,  the  eldest  son  of  Frederick,  late  Prince  of  Wales, 
succeeded.  George  HI  had  been  born  and  educated  in  England 
and  delighted  to  call  himself  an  Englishman.  These  facts  helped 
very  much  to  do  away  with  any  feeling  against  the  House  of 
Hanover.  He  was  twenty-two  years  old  when  he  came  to  the 
throne.  He  was  of  good  size,  and  had  a  florid  complexion,  was 
tolerably  good-looking,  and  was  generally  affable  in  his  manners. 
“  He  was  sincerely  pious  and  his  morality  was  strict.”  He  had 
been  poorly  educated,  was  only  moderately  intelligent,  and  was 
narrow  in  his  views  and  prejudiced.  “  His  leading  characteristic 
was  described  by  himself  as  firmness,  and  by  those  who  were 
opposed  to  him  as  obstinacy.”  He  was  a  firm  believer  in  the 
authority  of  a  king,  and  in  order  to  secure  what  he  believed  was 
the  royal  prerogative,  he  used  all  the  influence  he  possessed,  em- 


CENTRAL  NORTH  AMERICA,  1766 
AT  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  FRENCH  AND  INDIAN  WAR. 


CENTRAL  NORTH  AMERICA,  1763 
AFTER  THE  FRENCH  AND  INDIAN  WAR. 

(ACCORDING  TO  PEACE  OF  PARIS) 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  III 


439 


ploying  even  bribery  to  further  his  efforts.  This  struggle  he 
pursued  without  interruption  as  long  as  he  had  mind  and  strength 
and,  by  sheer  obstinacy  and  personal  good  character,  to  a  great 
degree  he  gained  his  end.  He  disliked  no  one  more  than  Pitt 
and  resolved,  at  the  first 
opportunity,  to  dismiss  him. 

550.  Resignation  of  Pitt, 

1761;  Bute,  Prime  Minister, 

1762.  —  Don  Carlos  of  Na¬ 
ples  became  king  of  Spain 
as  Charles  III  in  1759,  and 
in  1761  he  joined  with  the 
Bourbons  of  France  in  a 
family  compact  which  bound 
France,  Spain,  and  Italy  to 
support  each  other  against 
England.  Pitt  deemed  it 
wise  to  declare  war  upon 

Spain,  but  George  had  forced 
^  ^  George  III 

into  the  cabinet  the  Earl  of 

Bute,  his  old  tutor,  who  opposed  the  plan.  Newcastle  and  others, 
fearing  the  expense,  would  not  support  Pitt,  and  so  he  resigned 
(1761).  Bute  became  prime  minister  in  1762.  A  more  incom¬ 
petent  minister  England  never  had.  Till  he  made  his  speech  as 
prime  minister  he  had  never  spoken  in  the  House  of  Commons 
and  knew  little  or  nothing  of  the  routine  of  business. 

551.  War  with  Spain;  Peace  of  Paris,  1763. —  He  was  com¬ 
pelled,  however,  to  begin  a  war  against  Spain  which,  owing  to 
the  preparations  that  Pitt  had  made,  was  successful.  The  English 
captured  Manila  in  the  Philippines,  and  Havana  in  Cuba.  In 
1763  (February  10)  the  Peace  of  Paris  was  signed  which  ended 
the  Seven  Years’  War.  Canada  and  Cape  Breton  were  given  to 
England,  and  the  Mississippi  fixed  as  the  boundary  between  Louisi¬ 
ana  (Spanish)  and  the  British  possessions ;  Havana  was  restored 


440 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


to  Spain,  who  gave  Florida  in  return,  and  also  received  back 
Manila.  France  gave  up  Minorca,  but  received  Pondicherry 
and  other  places  in  India  for  trading  purposes  alone,  and  two 
small  islands*  off  Newfoundland  to  be  used  only  for  fishing  purposes. 
To  the  American  Colonies  the  terms  of  the  peace  were  of  incalcu¬ 
lable  importance,  as  they  were  now  removed  from  fear  of  any  hostile 
power,  except  the  Indians,  and  could  expand  in  safety.^ 

552.  Grenville’s  Ministry,  1763;  John  Wilkes.  —  The  un¬ 
popular  Bute  was  replaced  by  George  Grenville  (1763),  brother- 
in-law  of  Pitt.  Grenville,  though  a  fair  man  of  business,  was  not 
capable  of  taking  in  large  issues  and  had  quarreled  with  Pitt  mainly 
on  account  of  the  vast  expenditures  Pitt’s  policy  had  involved. 
Grenville  and  his  cabinet  were  guilty  of  at  least  two  very  serious 
blunders.  The  first  was  the  prosecution  of  John  Wilkes  for  libel. 
Wilkes,  a  sharp,  unscrupulous  man  who  cared  for  little  but  himself, 
had  succeeded  in  getting  elected  a  member  of  Parliament  for  one 
of  the  London  districts.  He  published  a  libel  on  the  king  in  his 
paper  the  North  Briton,  for  which  he  was  arrested  on  a  “  general 
warrant,”®  sent  to  the  Tower,  and  his  papers  seized  and  exam¬ 
ined.  A  member  of  Parliament  can  only  be  arrested  for  breach 
of  the  peace  or  treason ;  Wilkes  was  therefore  discharged,  and 
suing  for  damages  recovered  ;!^iooo.  Next  the  House  of  Com¬ 
mons  voted  Wilkes’  paper  to  be  a  seditious  libel,  ordered  it  to  be 
burned  by  the  common  hangman,  and  expelled  Wilkes  from  the 
House.  All  this  made  him  a  popular  hero,  and  the  represen¬ 
tative  of  a  righteous  cause,  for  the  action  of  the  government  and 
Parliament  was  regarded  as  an  attack  upon  the  freedom  of  the 
press,  and  the  liberties  of  the  people-* 

’  St.  Pierre  and  Miquelon,  which  she  still  holds  (1913). 

2  The  treaty  was  made  without  regard  to  Frederic  of  Prussia,  and  he  was  greatly 
angered  at  the  action  of  England  in  thus  deserting  him. 

3  A  "  general  warrant "  is  "  a  warrant  directed  against  no  particular  individual 
but  against  suspected  persons  generally.” 

■*  Thre‘e  times  was  Wilkes  elected  and  rejected  by  the  House  of  Commons ;  the 
fourth  time  (1764)  he  was  allowed  to  take  his  seat.  It  is  strange  that  to  a  man  so  dis¬ 
reputable  as  Wilkes,  men  should  be  indebted  in  so  great  a  degree  for  such  important 


TROUBLES  WITH  AMERICA 


441 


553.  American  Stamp  Act.  1765. — The  second  blunder 
which  Grenville  made  was  the  passage  of  the  celebrated  Stamp 
Act  for  taxing  the  American  Colonies  (1765).  The  object  of  this 
act  was  to  help  raise  funds  for  troops  to  defend  the  Colonies,  and 
all  the  funds  were  to  be  spent  in  America.  The  tax  was  to  be 
collected  by  means  of  stamps  placed  upon  legal  documents  and 
papers.  The  colonists  bitterly  resented  this  action,  for,  while 
they  conceded  the  right  of  Parliament  to  regulate  trade,  they 
denied  the  right  to  tax  without  representation.  Grenville  also 
proposed  to  enforce  the  nearly  obsolete  Navigation  Laws.  This 
action  was  perhaps  even  more  hateful  to  the  colonists  than  the 
Stamp  Act,  for  it  would  seriously  injure  their  trade.  Before,  how¬ 
ever,  the  news  of  the  action  of  the  Americans  reached  England, 
Grenville  had  come  under  the  displeasure  of  King  George,  and 
his  ministry  fell.  The  new  ministry  was  headed  by  the  Marquis 
of  Rockingham.  He  was  not  disposed  to  stir  up  trouble  with 
the  Colonies,  and  so  the  Stamp  .Act  was  repealed,  and  “  general 
warrants”  were  declared  illegal;  but  the  right  to  tax  was  affirmed 
at  the  same  time  in  a  Declaratory  Act.  Again  the  ministry  was 
changed,  this  time  Pitt,  who  had  been  created  Earl  of  Chatham, 
being  a  member  and  actually  prime  minister,  though  not  officially 
so,  as  the  Duke  of  Grafton  was  the  nominal  head. 

554.  The  Townshend  Acts.  1767. — In  less  than  a  year 
Chatham  was  compelled  to  retire  on  account  of  ill  health,  and 
Charles  Townshend,  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  determined 
to  tax  America,  and  Parliament  passed  the  Townshend  Acts,  pro¬ 
viding  for  the  taxing  of  glass,  red  and  white  lead,  paper,  tea,  and 
some  other  articles.*  This  action  again  stirred  up  the  Americans, 
and  non-importation  agreements  were  common.  Troops  were 
sent  to  Boston,  and  the  “  Boston  Massacre  ”  (1770)  was  one  result 
of  the  measure.  All  taxes  were  now  repealed  except  that  upon 

safe-guards  as  the  illegality  of  general  warrants,  the  right  of  the  people  to  elect  their 
own  representatives,  and  the  publication  of  parliamentary  proceedings.  The 
name  of  Wilkes  is  perpetuated  in  Wilkes-Barre,  Pennsylvania. 

1  Townshend  died  in  1767. 


442 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


tea,  but  the  Americans  looked  upon  the  question  of  taxation  as  a 
matter  of  principle,  and,  on  this  ground,  one  tax  was  as  bad  as  fifty. 

555.  Lord  North,  Prime  Minister,  1770;  The  King’s  Policy 
toward  America.  —  .As  Lord  North,  who  became  prime  minister 
in  1770,  was  in  accord  with  George’s  views  as  to  the  monarchy, 
George  became  himself  the  real  prime  minister  and  introduced 
the  departmental  system  which  Walpole  had  discarded.  Under 
this  system  each  head  of  a  department  looked  to  the  king  for 
instructions  —  not  to  the  cabinet. 

The  news  of  the  reception  of  the  tea  vessels  at  Boston,  New 
York,  Philadelphia,  and  Charleston  forced  the  government  to 
consider  some  definite  plan  of  action  in  American  affairs,  for 
it  was  clear  that  either  the  scheme  of  taxation  would  have  to 
be  abandoned,  or  enforced  by  arms.  The  king  and  his  cabinet 
resolved  to  force  their  regulations  on  the  rebellious  colonists.  As 
the  greatest  outbreak  had  occurred  at  Boston,  it  was  determined 
to  teach  that  city  and  the  colony  of  Massachusetts  a  lesson  which 
would  at  the  same  time  intimidate  the  other  Colonies.  So  Par¬ 
liament  passed  the  various  acts  so  familiar  to  Americans  —  the 
Boston  Port  Bill,  by  which  that  port  was  closed  to  all  commerce; 
the  Transportation  Bill,  allowing  persons  accused  of  certain  crimes 
to  be  transported  from  Massachusetts  for  trial  elsewhere ;  the  bill 
practically  revoking  the  charter  of  Massachusetts ;  and  the  Quar¬ 
tering  Act,  allowing  soldiers  to  be  quartered  upon  private  families. 
Besides  this,  to  conciliate  Canada,  the  Quebec  Act  was  passed, 
confirming  certain  privileges  of  the  Canadians,  and  extending  the 
borders  of  Canada  into  territory  which  the  Atlantic  Colonies 
believed  of  right  belonged  to  them. 

556.  Crisis  in  American  Affairs.  —  These  acts  brought  on  the 
crisis  in  American  affairs.  In  vain  Burke  and  Chatham,  with  all 
the  power  of  which  they  were  capable,  had  urged  conciliation 
with  Arnerica ;  it  was  not  until  news  of  the  meeting  of  the  Colo¬ 
nial  Congress  in  America  reached  England  that  the  ministry  began 
to  see  the  necessity,  of  some  conciliation.  In  1775  Lord  North 


WAR  WITH  AMERICAN  COLONIES 


443 


carried  a  bill  through  Parliament  which  provided  that  such  Colo¬ 
nies  as  made  a  grant  toward  the  expenses  of  the  British  empire 
should  be  free  from  taxation.  It  was,  however,  too  late  for  such 
a  concession,  for  the  principle  for  which  the  Americans  contended 
was  untouched. 

The  treatment  of  the  American  question  in  1774  and  1775  by 
the  British  government  was  extremely  ill  advised.  The  king  and 
his  ministry  knew  little  or  nothing  of  the  true  conditions  in  Amer¬ 
ica,  and  were  unwilling  to  learn  from  those  who  did  know  them. 
The  fact  was  that  colonial  affairs  were  administered,  not  in  the 
interests  of  the  Colonies,  but  of  the  British  government.  This, 
whether  clearly  understood  at  the  time  or  not,  was  the  real  cause 
of  the  revolt.  The  Stamp  Act  and  “  taxation  without  representa¬ 
tion  ”  were  occasions  rather  than  causes  of  resistance.  England 
was  unprepared  for  war,  and  the  difficulties  of  carrying  on  cam¬ 
paigns  three  thousand  miles  from  the  source  of  supplies  were 
apparently  ignored. 

557.  War  with  the  American  Colonies.  1775.  —  Actual  war¬ 
fare  began  with  the  battle  of  Lexington  (.April  19,  1775),  and  on  the 
Fourth  of  July,  1776,  the  thirteen  colonies  proclaimed  their  in¬ 
dependence  of  Great  Britain.  It  was  a  step  not  anticipated  by 
many  in  America,  who  had  taken  up  arms  simply  for  the  redress 
of  grievances,  and  was  opposed  by  many  others  who  were  called 
loyalists ;  but  the  action  of  the  British  ministry  made  independ¬ 
ence  the  logical  conclusion  of  events.  Seldom  has  a  war  of 
such  importance  been  so  badly  managed  on  each  side.  England 
sent  out  for  the  most  part  poor  troops,  many  of  them  hired  from 
the  petty  German  states ;  her  generals,  with  one  or  two  excep¬ 
tions,  were  incompetent ;  '■  and  there  was  no  national  support  at 
home,  for  many  of  the  best  men  in  England,  and  a  large  body 
of  the  people,  were  opposed  to  the  war.  In  America,  after  the 

1  It  is  also  probable  that  some  of  the  British  generals  who  were  Whigs  were  dis¬ 
inclined  to  gain  victories  for  a  Tory  government.  This  would  e.xplain  Howe’s  in¬ 
activity  in  Philadelphia  (1777-1778),  when  he  cpvild  have  driven  Washington  from 
Valley  Forge. 


444 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


first  year,  at  least,  the  militia  could  not  be  depended  upon  for 
steady  service  in  the  field;  Congress  was  niggardly  in  its  sup¬ 
port  of  Washington,  and  continually  failed  to  provide  funds  for 
the  necessary  military  expenses,  being  occupied  much  of  its  time 
in  petty  quarrels,  factions,  and  cabals.  To  the  patriotism,  skill, 
and  marvelous  serenity  and  patience  of  Washington,  more  than  to 
any  other  one  cause,  the  final  success  of  the  Americans  was  due, 
though  had  it  not  been  for  the  support  he  received  from  men  like 
Franklin,  Robert  Morris,  General  Greene,  and  others,  even  he 
might  have  failed,  and  this  notwithstanding  the  inestimable  aid 
the  Americans  received  by  the  French  alliance  (1778). 

558.  Progress  of  the  War ;  French  Alliance  with  America.  — 
During  the  first  year  of  the  war  the  Americans  had  rather  the 
worst  of  it.  But  later,  at  Saratoga,  the  British  general.  Sir  John 
Burgoyne,  was  forced  to  surrender  to  the  Americans  (October  17, 
1777)  —  an  event  of  vast  irnportance.  Great  as  was  the  effect  in 
America,  it  was  perhaps  even  greater  in  Europe,  where  England 
was  not  loved.  France  in  particular  had  not  forgotten  her  treat¬ 
ment  in  the  Seven  Years’  War,  and  had  already  been  secretly 
aiding  America.  Now  she  openly  entered  into  a  treaty  with  the 
new  United  States,  not  so  much  from  sympathy  with  the  young 
republic  as  from  a  desire  to  avenge  her  own  humiliation.  The 
young  Marquis  Lafayette  gave  his  services.  Troops  were  sent  to 
America,  and  the  French  Admiral  D’Estaing  sailed  to  the  West 
Indies  with  a  fleet  to  attack  British  interests  in  that  quarter. 

559.  Overtures  to  America,  1779;  England’s  Difficult  Position. 
—  The  British  ministry  now  offered  nearly  everything  which  the 
Americans  had  demanded,  except  independence,  but  it  was  too 
late.^  Meanwhile  France  had  declared  war  against  England  (i  778) 
and  was  followed  by  Spain  (1779),  and  later  by  Holland  (1780); 
in  addition  Ireland  was  getting  very  restless.  But  this  was  not  all ; 

1  The  recognition  of  the  independence  of  the  Colonies  was  proposed  in  Parlia¬ 
ment,  and  Chatham  made  his  last  effort  in  opposing  the  motion.  While  rising  to 
reply  he  fell  back  in  a  fit  of  apoplexy  from  which  he  did  not  recover  (1778).  He 
would  have  granted  everything  except  independence. 


END  OF  PERSONAL  RULE 


445 


Russia,  Holland,  Denmark,  and  Sweden  in  1780  formed  the  Armed 
Neutrality  League  for  self-protection  and  partly  with  the  object  of 
putting  a  stop  to  the  British  practice  of  searching  vessels  of  neutral 
nations.  It  was  this  combination  of  forces  against  her  which  pre¬ 
vented  Great  Britain  from  blockading  the  American  ports,  and 
from  sending  more  reenforcements  to  her  armies  in  America. 
Having  so  many  colonial  possessions  which  she  was  compelled  to 
protect  or  lose,  she  could  not  spare  men  and  vessels,  and  “  we  see 
a  naval  war  waged  from  the  extended  character  of  the  British 
Empire,  in  all  quarters  of  the  globe  at  once.”  Had  she  had 
only  her  American  Colonies  to  contend  with,  it  would  have  gone 
ha'rdly  with  them.  In  the  midst  of  this  condition  of  affairs  the  in¬ 
telligence  of  the  surrender  of  Lord  Cornwallis  at  Yorktown  (Oc¬ 
tober  19,  1781)  reached  London,  and  every  one  felt  that  the  war 
with  America  was  virtually  over. 

560.  Ireland,  1782  ;  Lord  North  Resigns.  —  The  condition  of 
affairs  in  India  was  far  from  assuring,  while  the  success  of  the 
Americans  stimulated  in  Ireland  a  feeling  of  independence  long 
unknown.  The  Irish  Parliament  declared  its  legislative  independ¬ 
ence  of  the  British  Parliament  (i  782),  and  under  the  lead  of  Henry 
Grattan  passed  acts  looking  to  the  relief  of  some  of  the  Catholic 
disabilities.'  Lord  North  was  compelled  to  acknowledge  the 
commercial  equality  of  England  and  Ireland  and  to  allow  the  Irish 
free  export  of  their  most  important  commodities.  It  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at  that  Lord  North,  the  prime  minister,  felt  obliged 
to  resign  (February,  1782)  against  the  king’s  wish. 

It  is  now  clear  that  most  of  what  used  to  be  charged  to  Lord 
North  was  really  tlie  work  of  George  HI.  “  North  was  rather  the 
agent  than  the  responsible  adviser  of  the  king,  who  himself  practi¬ 
cally  directed  the  policy  of  the  ministry,  even  on  the  minutest 
points.”  The  blame  which  justly  rests  upon  North  is  that  he  was 
willing  to  act  as  the  tool  of  the  king. 

1  All  these  measures  were  the  work  of  Protestants,  for  the  Catholics  still  had  no 
voice  in  Irish  affairs. 


446  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


561.  End  of  Personal  Rule,  1782;  Whig  Ministry.  —  With 
the  fall  of  North’s  ministry  the  strictly  personal  rule  and  depart¬ 
mental  system  of  King  George  came  to  an  end,  and  from  hence¬ 
forth  government  by  a  responsible  ministry  was  assured.  The  new 
ministry,  to  the  indignation  of  the  king,  had  to  be  composed 

of  Whigs.  Rock¬ 
ingham  became 
prime  minister  and 
among  his  asso¬ 
ciates  were  Charles 
James  Fox  and  the 
Earl  of  Shelburne  ; 
while  Edmund 
Burke,  though  not 
in  the  cabinet,  oc¬ 
cupied  a  subordi¬ 
nate  position  in  the 
government.  The 
new  ministry  faced 
no  easy  task.  Ire¬ 
land  must  be  paci¬ 
fied,  economical  re¬ 
form  instituted,  and 
above  all  the  war 
ended.  Legislative 
independence  was 
William  Pitt,  the  Younger  granted  to  Ireland, 

the  old  Poynings’  Act  (§  217)  was  modified,  and  other  conciliatory 
measures  adopted.  Some  important  bills  in  the  direction  of  eco¬ 
nomical  and  political  reform  were  passed,  but  the  ministry  and 
Parliament  were  half  hearted,  for  their  chief  desire  was  to  limit 
royal  ppwer  rather  than  to  reform  abuses. 

562.  Shelburne  Ministry;  William  Pitt,  the  Younger,  1782. 
—  Before  the  question  of  foreign  affairs  had  progressed  far.  Rock- 


PEACE  WITH  AMERICA 


447 


ingham  died  and  Shelburne  became  prime  minister.  In  his  cab¬ 
inet  a  new  man  came  into  office,  whose  name  was  to  be  indelibly 
fixed  in  English  history  —  William  Pitt,  the  second  son  of  William 
Pitt,  Earl  of  Chatham.  Entering  Parliament  in  1781,  before  he  was 
twenty-two,  he  at  once  made  his  mark,  and  now  at  twenty-three 
he  was  appointed  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  and  he  became 
leader  in  the  House  of  Commons. 

The  first  work  of  the  new  ministry  was  to  bring  about  peace. 
All  parties  agreed  on  the  acknowledgment  of  the  independence 
of  America ;  the  only  question  was  upon  what  terms.  A  pre¬ 
liminary  treaty  was  made  in  1782. 

563.  Peace  with  America;  United  States  Acknowledged,  1783. 
—  At  last,  on  January  20,  i  783,  a  treaty  of  peace  was  signed  at 
Paris  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  acknowledging 
the  independence  of  the  latter  and  making  the  Mississippi  the 
western  limit,  and  the  southern  boundary  of  Canada  and  New 
Brunswick,  the  northern  limit,  of  the  new  republic.  The  same  day 
were  signed  at  Versailles  preliminary  treaties  with  France  and 
Spain.^  Spain  regained  Minorca  and  Florida,  and  restored  the 
Bahamas  to  Great  Britain,  which  retained  Gibraltar. 

564.  Coalition  Ministry,  1783  ;  Fox’s  India  Bill.  —  Before  the 
negotiations  were  concluded  Shelburne’s  ministry  had  fallen,  and 
George  III  was  compelled  to  assent  to  what  was  called  the  “Coali¬ 
tion  Ministry.”  ^  The  Duke  of  Portland  was  the  nominal  head  of 
the  cabinet,  but  it  was  really  directed  by  Fox  and  North. 

George  III  hated  this  combination  and  determined  to  get  rid 
of  this  cabinet.  His  opportunity  came  when  a  bill  for  the  reorgan¬ 
ization  of  the  government  of  India,  introduced  by  Fox  and  passed 
by  the  Commons,  was  brought  before  the  Lords.  Originally 
simply  a  trading  association,  the  East  India  Company  had  become 
the  ruler  of  large  provinces  and  a  vast  population.  That  this 

>  Later,  peace  was  made  with  Holland,  neither  party  gaining  much  advantage  by 
the  war. 

2  “  Coalition,"  the  name  applied  to  a  union  in  a  government  or  cabinet  of  men 
of  different  political  parties  or  factions. 


448 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


was  an  unwise  condition  goes  without  saying.  Fox’s  bill  proposed 
that  the  national  government  should  assume  all  authority  by  means 
of  a  governing  board.  But  the  plan  infringed  on  the  prerogatives 
of  the  crown,  as  the  governing  board  was  at  first  to  be  appointed 
by  Parliament.  The  management  of  the  commercial  business  was 
to  be  intrusted  to  a  second  board  appointed  by  the  first.  The 
bill  was  not  popular,  and  George  III  authorized  Lord  Temple  to 
say  to  the  Lords  that  “  whoever  voted  for  the  bill  was  not  only  not 
the  king’s  friend,  but  would  be  considered  by  him  an  enemy.” 
This  was  sufficient,  and  the  Lords  by  a  small  majority  rejected  the 
bill.* 

The  Commons  and  the  ministry  resented  the  king’s  action  and 
the  ministry  refused  to  resign.  Late  at  night  the  king  sent  for  the 
seals  of  the  office  and  dismissed  the  ministry,  refusing  even  to  see 
them. 

565.  First  Pitt  Ministry,  1783. — ^The  king  promptly  sent 
for  William  Pitt  and  requested  him  to  form  a  new  ministry.  Thus 
before  he  was  twenty-five  William  Pitt  was  prime  minister  of  Eng¬ 
land  and  chancellor  of  the  exchequer  (December  19,  1783). 
His  appointment  “  was  received  in  the  House  of  Commons  with 
derisive  laughter.”  There  was  a  strong  opposition  having  a  major¬ 
ity  of  fifty,  and  embracing  with  perhaps  a  single  exception  every 
good  debater  and  speaker  but  himself.^ 

So  few  prominent  men  were  on  the  side  of  Pitt  in  the  Commons 
that  he  was  the  only  member  of  the  cabinet  in  that  body.  De¬ 
feated  again  and  again  and  called  upon  to  resign,  he  refused,  say¬ 
ing,  as  long  as  he  was  supported  by  the  king  he  would  neither 
resign  nor  would  a  new  election  be  ordered.  Sure  that  he  would 
in  time  gain  the  confidence  of  the  country,  he  determined  to  re¬ 
tain  his  post.  His  judgment  was  not  at  fault.  Admiration  for 
pluck,  his  father’s  name,  the  dislike  of  the  former  coalition  minis- 

1  This  attempt  of  the  king  personally  to  influence  a  House  of  Parliament  was 
clearly  unconstitutional. 

2  No  minister  would  now  dare  to  accept  office  under  such  circumstances,  but 
would  either  decline,  or  dissolve  Parliament  and  order  a  new  election. 


FIRST  riTT  MINISTRY 


449 


try,  the  unskillfulness  of  the  management  of  Fox  and  his  opponents, 
all  turned  to  his  advantage,  and  in  March,  1 784,  he  felt  his  posi¬ 
tion  strong  enough  to  appeal  to  the  country  by  a  new  election. 
His  judgment  was  vindicated,  and  in  the  new  House  of  Commons 
he  had  a  large  majority. 

The  ministry,  begun  amid  the  jeers  of  its  enemies,  lasted  seven¬ 
teen  years  (1783-1801),  with  the  single  exception  of  that  of  Sir 
Robert  Walpole  (§519)  the  longest  in  English  history.  Pitt 
united  in  himself  more  valuable  qualities  than  either  his  father  or 
Walpole.  He  was  an  orator  second  to  few,  a  skillful  debater,  a 
brilliant  financier,  and  an  ardent  patriot ;  his  readiness,  his  appre¬ 
hension,  and  his  resources  were  extraordinary.  He  never  sought 
his  own  personal  financial  advantage.  “  His  life  was  pure  ;  in  an 
age  of  eager  scandal  it  was  beyond  reproach.”  His  manners  were 
stiff  and  repellent,  and  he  would  unbend  only  to  his  intimates. 
Young  men,  however,  found  him  sympathetic  and  inspiring,  and  he 
was  fond  of  them.  He  had  to  contend  against  ill  health  from  his 
earliest  years,  and,  after  having  had  one  of  the  most  brilliant  po¬ 
litical  careers  in  history,  he  died,  worn  out,  when  not  forty-seven, 
an  age  at  which  many  have  yet  to  make  their  name  known. 

References.  —  Green,  Short  History,  chaps,  ix,  §  lo-x,  §  2  ;  Gardiner,  Stu¬ 
dent's  History,  chaps,  xlv,  §  ip-xlix  ;  Terry,  History,  Part  IV,  chaps,  i  (p.  877) 
tov  ;  Tout,  Adi'anced  History,  Book  VII,  chaps,  ii-iii,  §  31 ;  Macaulay,  Essays, 
Lord  Clive;  William  Pitt,  Earl  of  Chatham,  and  Earl  of  Chatham  ;  Traill, 
Social  England,  vol.  V,  chaps,  xxvii-xxviii  ;  Adams  and  Stephens,  Select  Doc¬ 
uments,  §§  249-254  ;  Cheyney,  Readings,  chap,  xvii,  §§  iv-v,  chap,  xviii,  §§  i, 
iii,  iv  ;  Colby,  Selections,  §§  90-101  ;  Kendall,  Source-Book,  §§  104-107  ; 
1.17-122;  hct,  Source-Book. 


CHAPTER  XXV 


ECONOMIC  AND  SOCIAL  DEVELOPMENT  IN  THE 
EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY 

566.  Great  Inventions  ;  The  Industrial  Revolution.  —  The 
commanding  place  given  England  in  European  affairs  by  the  pol¬ 
icy  of  William  III  was  extended  by  the  victories  of  Marlborough. 
During  the  long  administration  of  Walpole  peaceful  occupations 
had  developed  as  never  before,  and  the  increase  in  material  pros¬ 
perity  and  in  population  was  great. 

Old  methods  in  manufacturing  had  prevailed  up  to  the  reign  of 
George  III,  for  until  the  middle  of  the  century  there  were,  in  the 
modern  sense,  no  mills  or  factories.  But  about  that  time  four  great 
inventions  soon  changed  the  whole  character  of  textile  manufacture. 
These  were  Hargreaves’  spinning-jenny,  a  machine  by  which  a 
man  could  spin  eight  threads  at  once  instead  of  one ;  Arkwright’s 
system  of  spinning  by  means  of  rollers,  which  operated  more  rap¬ 
idly  than  the  spinning- jenny  ;  Crompton’s  mule,  which  combined 
the  advantages  of  both  Arkwright’s  and  Hargreaves’  machines ; 
and  later  (about  1784),  Cartwright’s  power  loom,  which  was  to 
weaving  what  the  mule  and  the  jenny  were  to  spinning.  These 
machines  needed  greater  power  than  could  be  applied  in  a  private 
house  and  more  capital  than  an  ordinary  man  could  furnish,  and 
so  companies  were  formed  and  mills  with  horse  or  water  power 
were  built.  James  Watt  patented  his  steam  engine  in  1769,  and 
began  the  manufacture  of  steam  engines  in  partnership  with 
Matthew  Boulton;  and  in  1785  the  first  steam  engine  was  used  in 
a  cotton  mill.  So  began  what  is  well  termed  the  Industrial  Revolu¬ 
tion  ;  or  “  the  adoption  of  machinery  and  artificial  power,  the  use 
of  a  vastly  greater  amount  of  capital,  and  the  collection  of  scat¬ 
tered  laborers  into  great,  strictly  regulated  establishments.” 

450 


THE  INDUSTRIAL  REVOLUTION 


451 


567.  Iron  and  Coal;  Movement  of  Population.  —  But  the  de¬ 
velopment  of  manufacture  was  accompanied  by  other  economic 
changes.  In  1760  John  Roebuck  discovered  that  iron. could  be 
smelted  with  mineral  coal  as  well  as  by  the  aid  of  charcoal.  The 
result  was  a  vast  increase  in  mining,  in  the  manufacture  of  iron, 
and  improvements  in  all  branches  of  the  trade. 

A  striking  result  of  the  change  in  commerce  and  manufacture 
was  the  change  in  the  movement  of  population.  Liverpool,  little 
more  than  a  village  at  the  beginning  of  the  century,  became  a 
great  port,  especially  for  the  American  trade ;  Lancashire  and 
Yorkshire,  hitherto  almost  exclusively  agricultural,  became  the  seat 
of  great  mills,^  and  mining  and  smelting  operations  were  carried 
on  where  formerly  sheep  and  cattle  grazed  quietly  or  the  farmer 
harvested  his  grain  and  other  crops. 

568.  Transportation  ;  Roads  ;  Canals.  —  But  for  the  satisfactory 
development  of  material  wealth  and  prosperity  better  means  of 
transportation  were  needed.  Up  to  the  middle  of  the  century  the 
roads  were  generally  little  more  than  track  ways,  deep  with  mud 
in  the  winter,  and  dusty  and  full  of  ruts  in  the  summer.  Traveling 
was  slow  and  dangerous.  “  The  flying  machine  ”  or  fast  coach 
was  three  days  making  the  journey  between  London  and  Sheffield, 
a  distance  of  160  miles.  The  necessity  for  better  roads  was  so 
evident  that  before  the  end  of  the  century  great  improvements 
were  made,  and  turnpikes  were  introduced  where  tolls  were  re¬ 
quired  which  were  applied  to  keeping  the  roads  in  good  order. 
This  not  only  facilitated  the  transportation  of  goods,  but  also  of 
travelers,  and  correspondingly  improved  the  postal  service.  But 
even  on  good  roads  the  carriage  of  heavy  goods  was  difficult  and  ex¬ 
pensive,  and  therefore  attention  was  turned  to  the  improvement 
of  the  rivers  and  the  building  of  canals.  To  such  an  extent  was 
this  carried  out  that  between  1758  and  1803  there  were  constructed 
in  Great  Britain  about  three  thousand  miles  of  canals.  In  the 

■  This  was  largely  due  to  the  existence  of  many  streams  which  furnished  water 
power. 


452 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


colliery  districts  still  another  method  of  facilitating  the  transport 
of  heavy  commodities  such  as  coal  and  iron  was  devised  —  that 
of  laying  rails,  first  of  wood,  then  of  iron,  upon  which  wagons  bear¬ 
ing  heavy  loads  could  run  with  ease. 

569.  Greater  Liberty  of  Action.  —  Down  well  into  the  middle 
of  the  century  the  medieval  idea  that  it  was  the  province  of  the 
government  to  regulate  all  the  economic  life  of  the  people  had 
continued  to  find  acceptance.  But  in  the  latter  part  of  the  cen¬ 
tury  the  view  gained  more  and  more  adherents  that  “  men  had  a 
right  to  be  left  free  to  do  as  they  chose,  so  far  as  such  freedom 
was  practicable.”  This  view  was  greatly  fostered  by  the  publica¬ 
tion  (1776)  of  Adam  Smith’s  Wealth  of  Nations,  still  one  of  the 
greatest  works  on  political  economy. 

570.  Agriculture  ;  Land  Inclosure  Acts.  —  Great  changes  also 
took  place  in  agriculture.  Small  farms  became  less  profitable,  and 
large  farms,  worked  on  less  unscientific  principles,  grew  in  number. 
Up  to  the  middle  of  the  century  much  land  remained  common, 
that  is,  after  crops  were  harvested  the  villagers  had  the  right  to 
turn  their  cattle  on  it.  But  early  in  the  reign  of  George  III  a 
number  of  inclosure  acts  lessened  greatly  the  amount  of  this  com¬ 
mon  land,  both  pasture  and  arable.  This  legislation  was  hard  on 
the  poor,  for  it  tended  to  cause  land  more  and  more  to  fall  into 
the  hands  of  the  large  holders.  The  number  of  laborers  increased 
and  at  the  same  time  the  number  of  paupers.  The  system  of 
Poor  Laws  dating  from  the  time  of  Elizabeth,  bad  in  her  day,  was 
worse  under  the  changed  circumstances,  so  that,  while  the  wealthy 
and  middle  classes  were  steadily  bettering  their  condition,  that  of 
the  agricultural  laboring  class  was  growing  worse.  Their  condition 
was  intensified  by  the  system  of  corn  laws  (first  passed  in  1773), 
which  restricted  the  importation  of  grain  into  England. 

571.  Religious  Thought  and  Practice.  —  But  it  was  not  only  in 
commercial  and  material  matters  that  great  changes  occurred. 
They  were  as  marked  in  the  field  of  religious  thought  and  practice. 
There  were  many  skeptics.  The  High  Churchism  of  the  reign  of 


THE  WESLEYAN  MOVEMENT 


453 


Queen  Anne  and  the  zeal  of  the  Dissenters  had  given  place  to  a 
cool,  philosophic  view  of  religion  that  laid  great  stress  on  reason 
and  external  morality  rather  than  on  doctrine  or  on  emotional  ex¬ 
pression.  A  large  number  of  influential  men  disbelieved  in  Chris¬ 
tianity  and  were  called  Deists.  It  is  probable,  though  there  were 
many  individual  exceptions,  that  the  general  spiritual  condition  of 
England  had  never  sunk  lower  than  in  the  first  twenty-five  or  thirty 
years  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

572.  Wesleyan  Movement.  1730.  —  But  a  change  came. 
About  1 730  a  band  of  young  Oxford  students  formed  a  small  so¬ 
ciety  for  the  purpose  of  mutual  improvement,  for  Bible  and  reli¬ 
gious  study,  and  for  practicing  works  of  charity  and  benevolence. 
They  were  in  derision  called  by  their  fellow-students  “  Methodists.” 
The  leading  spirit  in  this  band  was  John  Wesley ;  with  him  were 
associated  his  brother,  Charles  Wesley,  and  later  George  White- 
field.  John  Wesley  is  one  of  the  great  men  of  history  and  his 
influence  has  been  of  surpassing  power.  “  He  was  a  man  who 
had  made  religion  the  single  aim  and  object  of  his  life,  who  was 
prepared  to  encounter  for  it  every  form  of  danger,  discomfort,  and 
obloquy ;  who  devoted  exclusively  to  it  an  energy  of  will  and  a 
power  of  intellect  that  in  worldly  professions  might  have  raised  him 
to  the  highest  positions  of  honor  and  wealth.”  Whitefield  was  un¬ 
surpassed  as  an  eloquent  preacher,  and  after  1739  *^he  Methodist 
leaders  “  went  about  the  country  preaching  extempore,  with  the 
most  intense  fervor  of  language  and  gesture,  and  usually  with  a 
complete  disregard  of  the  ordinary  methods  of  the  preachers  of 
the  day.” 

573.  Results  of  the  Wesleyan  Movement. — The  effect  of  this 
preaching  can  hardly  be  described ;  thousands  were  moved  to 
a  reformed  and  a  religious  life.  It  was  natural  that  the  clergy 
of  the  Established  Church  should  be  shocked  and  should  refuse 
to  allow  such  enthusiasts  to  occupy  their  pulpits.  As  a  result  the 
preachers  took  to  speaking  in  the  open  air ;  next,  as  a  matter 
of  necessity,  chapels  were  built  to  accommodate  the  adherents  of 


454 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


the  new  preachers.  A  still  further  consequence  was  the  organi¬ 
zation  of  the  converts  into  a  new  body,  which  ultimately  became 
known  as  the  Methodists  or  Wesleyans.  Wesley  always  refused  to 
withdraw  from  the  Church  of  England,  but  after  his  death,  in  1791, 
the  Wesleyans  became  a  separate  body  both  in  name  and  in  fact. 

The  importance  of  the  Wesleyan  movement  lies  not  only  in 
strictly  religious  history,  but  in  the  effect  it  had  upon  the  popula¬ 
tion  of  Great  Britain.  Addressed  largely  to  the  lower  classes, 
it  had  a  lasting  influence  upon  them.  It  tended  to  call  attention 
to  the  importance  of  the  individual;  it  placed  a  life  of  new 
possibilities  before  him,  raised  his  self-respect,  and,  moreover, 
gave  him  a  voice  in  a  powerful  organization.  The  influence  of 
the  movement  on  the  Church  of  England  and  other  religious 
bodies  was  by  no  means  small,  and  perhaps  no  other  movement 
of  the  century  was  more  far-reaching  in  its  effects. 

574.  Growth  of  Religious  Toleration ;  Philanthropic  Move¬ 
ments.  —  Other  characteristics  of  the  century  were  the  decline  in 
the  spirit  of  persecution,  and  the  increase  in  religious  toleration.^ 
Some  of  the  disabilities  of  the  Catholics  were  removed,  but  the 
removal  of  even  these  ultimately  led  to  serious  riots  both  in  Scot¬ 
land  and  England  (Lord  George  Gordon  Riots,  1780). 

Another  feature  of  the  age  was  the  rise  of  philanthropic  move¬ 
ments,  prominent  among  which  was  the  effort  of  John  Howard 
(1726-1790)  to  improve  the  condition  of  the  prisons,  which 
were  but  a  trifle  better  than  the  scandalous  ones  of  the  seven¬ 
teenth  century.  Another  was  the  effort  for  the  abolition  of  the 
slave  trade,  in  which,  in  the  later  years  of  the  century,  Thomas 
Clarkson  (1760-1846)  and  William  Wilberforce  (1759-1833) 
took  such  an  unselfish  and  earnest  part. 

575.  Dress  and  Social  Customs.  —  The  increase  in  wealth 
among  the  commercial  and  trading  classes,  the  improvement  in 
means  of  communication  and  transportation,  and  the  doctrine 

1  Exception  must  be  made  in  the  case  of  Catholics,  for  the  feeling  against 
them  was  still  very  strong. 


SOCIAL  CHANGES 


455 


of  equality  spread  abroad  by  the  philosophers,  especially  by 
Rousseau  of  France,  all  tended  toward  a  greater  simplicity  in 
dress,  manners,  and  social  customs.  The  flowing  wig,  the  knee 
breeches,  long  waistcoats,  gay  colored  clothing  among  men,  and 
swords  as  ornaments,  gradually  went  out  of  fashion.  Among 
women,  also,  customs  and  man¬ 
ners  became  more  simple. 

576.  Fashionable  Life ;  Gam¬ 
bling  ;  Duelling.  —  The  most 
fashionable  vice  of  the  day  was 
gambling.  Gambling  naturally 
led  to  the  creation  of  large 
debts  —  “  debts  of  honor  ”  as 
they  were  called  —  entailing 
great  loss  and  often  bankruptcy 
and  ruin  upon  the  loser  and  his 
family.  Besides  this,  disputes 
frequently  arose  which,  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  ideas  of  that  day, 
could  only  be  settled  by  the 
sword  or  pistol.  And,  indeed, 
duelling  was  a  common  method 
of  settling  any  question  where  a  man’s  “  honor  ”  was  supposed  to 
be  involved. 

Drinking  to  excess  continued  to  be  common.  One,  two,  or 
even  three  bottles  of  port  wine  at  dinner  was  not  unusual,  and 
drunkenness  in  public  was  not  especially  commented  upon. 

The  moral  life  of  George  III  set  a  good  example,  and  the  effect 
of  the  religious  revival  was  great ;  so  that  by  the  close  of  the 
century  much  that  had  been  treated  as  venial  became  disreputable 
among  the  greater  part  of  the  community. 

577.  Evil  Effects  of  the  Industrial  Revolution.  —  The  Indus¬ 
trial  Revolution,  as  was  inevitable,  brought  for  the  time  being 
much  suffering  to  the  poorer  classes.  The  spinners  and  weavers, 


An  Eighteenth  Century  London 
Tavern 


456 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


and  others  who  had  worked  at  their  homes,  often  from  age  or 
from  other  causes  were  unfitted  to  work  in  the  mills,  and  hence 
were  deprived  of  their  means  of  living,  for  they  were  unable  to 
compete  with  the  large  manufacturers.  The  smaller  establish¬ 
ments  where  handwork 
was  employed  were 
also  soon  done  away 
with  by  the  new  power 
machinery  or  factory 
system,  as  it  is  called. 
But  with  the  improve¬ 
ments  in  manufactur¬ 
ing  came  the  tendency 
to  treat  the  workers 
rather  as  machines 
than  as  human  beings.  Long  hours  of  labor,  dark  and  ill-ventilated 
workrooms,  and  unhealthful  and  dirty  dwellings  were  their  usual 
lot.  Women  and  children  labored  as  long  as  the  men,  —  children 
of  nine  years  often  working  fifteen  or  more  hours  a  day.  There 
were  no  factory  or  labor  laws  to  regulate  or  restrict,  and  as  the 
workers  had  no  vote,  and  were  forbidden  by  law  to  form  trade 
unions,  their  case  was  indeed  hard. 

References.  — Traill,  Social  England,  chaps,  xx-xxi;  Cheyney,  Industrial 
and  Social  History,  chaps,  vii-viii  (in  part);  Gardiner,  Student’s  History, 
chap.  1,  §§  22-31;  Tout,  Advanced  History,  VII,  chap,  vi;  Cheyney, 

Readings,  chap,  xviii,  §  ii;  Colby,  Selections,  §§  91,  93,  100,  102,  106; 
Kendall,  Source- Book,  §§  110-114,  116. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 


EFFORTS  FOR  REFORM;  FRENCH  REVOLUTION; 

NAPOLEONIC  WARS 

578.  Pitt  and  Reform  ;  India  Bill  (1784)  ;  Warren  Hastings. 
—  The  task  presented  before  the  younger  Pitt  was  one  of  extreme 
difficulty.  Personally  he  was  a  man  of  peace,  and  earnest  for 
political  and  social  reform,  but  circumstances  were  such  that  he 
is  chiefly  remembered  as  a  great  war  minister.  He  warmly  sup¬ 
ported  the  efforts  of  Wilberforce  for  the  abolition  of  the  slave 
trade,  was  sincerely  desirous  to  better  the  condition  of  Ireland, 
and  to  reform  the  administration  of  India.  The  last  matter 
occupied  his  attention  first,  and  in  1784  he  carried  his  India  Bill. 
This  provided  for  a  Board  of  Control,  appointed  by  the  govern¬ 
ment,  the  president  of  the  board  to  be  a  cabinet  minister.  Po¬ 
litical  matters  came  under  its  duties,  while  all  commercial  matters 
were  to  be  managed  by  the  Company,  which  also  appointed  the 
commander-in-chief  and  the  governor-general,  subject  to  the  veto 
of  the  government ;  other  political  offices  were  to  be  filled  by 
the  Board  of  Control.  This  plan  worked  so  well  that  it  lasted 
until  1858.  The  first  governor  under  this  arrangement  was 
Warren  Hastings.*  His  administration  was  highly  successful,  but 
on  his  return  (1785)  he  was  impeached  on  a  charge  of  extortion, 
oppression,  and  cruelty.  His  famous  trial,  begun  in  1788  and 
taken  part  in  by  Fox,  Burke,  and  Sheridan,  was  to  a  very  great 
extent  political;  it  lasted  until  1795,  when  he  was  acquitted.^ 
Though  he  had  been  severe  and  arbitrary,  and  he  had  used 
methods  not  allowed  in  civilized  countries,  he  was  not  guilty  of 
the  grave  charges  made  against  him. 

'  Hastings  had  been  govenor  general  since  1773. 

2  It  is  said  that  the  trial  cost  Hastings  ,^79,000,  and  almost  ruined  him. 

457 


458 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


579.  Pitt  and  Finances.  —  In  financial  methods  Pitt  was,  in 
general,  a  follower  of  Adam  Smith.  He  reduced  the  customs 
duties  on  many  articles  so  much  that  smuggling  became  unprofit¬ 
able  and  at  the  same  time  legitimate  trade  was  encouraged ;  he 
made  a  treaty  with  France  which  greatly  increased  the  com¬ 
merce  between  the  two  countries  and  nearly  brought  about  free 
trade ;  he  reduced  expenditures  and  introduced  efficiency  into 
the  administration  of  public  business ;  he  did  away  as  much  as 
possible  with  the  opportunities  for  bribery  and  abolished  many 
sinecure  offices ;  and  he  devised  plans  for  paying  off  the  national 
debt  which  were  a  credit  to  his  character. 

580.  Foreign  Affairs;  The  Regency  Bill.  1788-1789.  —  Pitt 
gained  the  friendliness  of  Prussia,  decreased  the  influence  of 
France  in  Holland,  and  in  1788  formed  a  Triple  Alliance  with 
Prussia  and  Holland  “  to  maintain  their  common  interests,  and  for 
their  mutual  defense  and  guarantee  against  every  hostile  attack.” 

An  attack  of  insanity  befell  King  George  in  1788,  and  the  ques¬ 
tion  of  a  regency  had  to  be  settled;  Pitt  declared  that  in  such  a 
case  Parliament  should  decide,  and  referred  to  the  example  of 
Henry  VI  (§  202).  Charles  James  Fox  and  his  friends  claimed 
that,  by  virtue  of  his  position  as  heir,  the  Prince  of  Wales  should 
be  regent.  Pitt  finally  brought  in  a  bill  providing  for  a  regency 
by  the  Prince  of  Wales,  but  under  strict  conditions.  Before  the 
bill  could  get  through  Parliament  the  king  recovered,  but  Pitt’s 
position  was  greatly  strengthened  by  the  stand  he  had  taken. 

581.  The  French  Revolution.  1789.  —  In  1789  the  French 
Revolution,  the  most  stirring  event  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
broke  out.  The  revolution  was  the  natural  result  of  the  policy 
of  Louis  XIV,  followed  by  the  corrupt  reign  of  Louis  XV.  At 
first  the  French  Revolution  was  welcomed  by  many  in  England  as 
a  step  forward  in  the  cause  of  liberty ;  but  in  1 790  Burke,  who 
viewed  the  matter  with  very  different  eyes,  published  his  Reflec¬ 
tions  on  the  French  Revolution,  in  which,  with  all  his  eloquence, 
he  warned  his  countrymen  against  the  radicalism  and  dangerous 


THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 


459 


doctrines  of  the  French  revolutionists.  His  book  had  an  enor¬ 
mous  sale  and  greatly  influenced  public  opinion,  and  more  so  as 
the  excesses  of  the  French  indicated  the  fulfillment  of  his  worst 
forebodings. 

Pitt,  at  first  inclined  to  sympathize  with  the  efforts  in  France 
after  liberty,  followed  a  policy  of  absolute  neutrality.  Later  he 
came  gradually  to  Burke’s  opinion,  and  his  fear  of  what  might 
take  place,  not  only  on  the  Continent  but  also  in  England,  influ¬ 
enced  greatly  his  administration  of  public  affairs. 

582.  France  a  Republic,  1792;  Execution  of  Louis  XVI;  War 
with  France.  1793-  —  France  was  proclaimed  a  Republic  in 

1792  (September  21),  and  late  in  the  year  roused  all  the  sov¬ 
ereigns  of  Europe  against  her  by  passing  two  decrees.  “The 
first  of  these  decrees  promised  assistance  to  all  nations  that  should 
revolt  against  their  governments ;  while  the  second  compelled  all 
territories  occupied  by  the  French  to  accept  the  new  French  in¬ 
stitutions.”  ^  These  decrees  were  speedily  followed  by  the  execu¬ 
tion  of  Louis  XVI  (January  21,  1793),  and  the  Continent  and 
England  were  horrified.  A  few  days  later  France  declared  war 
against  England  and  Holland.  From  this  time  for  nearly  twenty- 
two  years  England  was  almost  continually  at  war  with  France. 

Pitt’s  policy  was  to  give  money  to  the  European  sovereigns  to 
fight  the  battles  rather  than  to  contribute  many  men  to  their 
armies.^  The  administration  of  the  navy  was  superior  to  that  of 
the  army,  and  some  of  the  greatest  naval  victories  of  England 
took  place  during  this  period. 

583.  The  “New  Toryism.” — In  the  stress  of  the  French  revo¬ 
lutionary  times  Pitt  dropped  all  effbrts  at  reform  and  devoted  his 
attention  to  finance,  to  the  war,  and,  perforce,  to  the  condition  of 

1  The  new  Republic  had  already  seized  Nice  and  Savoy,  the  Low  Countries, 
and  the  country  along  the  Rhine,  so  this  was  no  idle  threat. 

2  This  is  called  to  subsidize.  To  such  a  large  extent  was  this  done  that  from 

1793  to  1805  more  than  ,^9,000,000  were  paid  by  Great  Britain  to  European  states 
in  support  of  the  struggle  against  France  and  Napoleon,  and,  in  addition,  loans  of 
about  ^^6,200,000  were  made. 


460 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


Ireland.  From  this  time  also  Pitt  became  the  leader  of  a  new 
political  combination  which  has  been  called  the  “  New  Toryism.” 
The  principles  of  this  body  were  defense  of  things  as  they  are ; 
opposition  to  all  changes  ;  and  security  for  the  rights  of  property, 
—  all  these  being  opposed  to  the  principles  enunciated  by  the 
French  revolutionists.  Many  of  the  Whigs  joined  the  party,  which 
became  for  about  thirty  years  the  ruling  one  in  Great  Britain. 

584.  The  Coalition  against  France,  1 793  ;  Bonaparte.  —  Eng¬ 
land,  having  already  helped  Austria  and  Prussia  with  money,  joined 
in  a  coalition  with  Austria,  Prussia,  Spain,  and  Holland  (1793). 
Notwithstanding  this  great  array  against  them,  the  French  were 
successful,  not  only  in  protecting  themselves,  but  also  in  extend¬ 
ing  their  boundaries.  Holland  was  captured  (1795)  and  made 
into  the  Batavian  Republic ;  Prussia,  Spain,  and  some  of  the 
smaller  states  made  a  treaty  with  France,  leaving  England,  Austria, 
and  Sardinia  to  continue  the  struggle. 

A  new  general  now  appeared  in  France,  Napoleon  Bonaparte, 
who  in  1797  drove  the  Austrians  out  of  Italy,  and  forced  Austria  to 
make  a  peace.  This  left  England  alone  against  France. 

585.  British  Success  at  Sea ;  Bonaparte’s  Plans  to  crush 
England. —  At  sea,  however,  England  had  been  successful,  for 
in  1795  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  Ceylon  had  been  taken  from 
the  Dutch;  an  attempt  of  the  French  to  get  a  ibothold  in  Great 
Britain  had  proved  a  failure;  in  1797  Admirr.l  Jervis  and  Com¬ 
modore  Nelson  had  defeated  a  Spanish  fleet  off  Cape  St.  Vin¬ 
cent  ;  and  the  Dutch  fleet  was  defeated  off  Camperdown  by 
Admiral  Duncan. 

Pitt  was  desirous  of  making  peace,  but  the  French,  believing 
that  England  was  exhausted,  demanded  terms  which  were  im¬ 
possible  for  the  English  to  accept. 

Bonaparte,  who  was  practically  the  master  of  France,  resolved 
to  cripple  England  by  destroying  her  trade  with  India.  To  do 
this  he  set  out  with  an  army  and  fleet  for  Egypt,  the  key  to  the 
East.  He  was  successful  in  gaining  Eygpt,  but  the  English  fleet 


WARS  OF  NAPOLEON 


461 


under  Nelson  defeated  the  French  at  the  battle  of  the  Nile 
(August  I,  1798),  and  the  advance  of  the  French  in  Syria  was 
checked  at  St.  Jean  d’Acre  by  Sir  Sidney  Smith  (1799).  Napo¬ 
leon’s  plans  had  failed. 

586.  Second  Coalition  against 
France,  1799;  French  Suc¬ 
cesses. —  Meantime  a  new  coali¬ 
tion  of  England,  Austria,  and 
Russia  was  formed,  and  France 
seemed  in  a  critical  condition. 

But  Napoleon,  leaving  his  army 
in  Egypt,  returned  to  France, 
overthrew  the  weak  government 
of  the  Directory,  which  had  been 
formed  in  Paris,  caused  himself 
to  be  appointed  First  Consul, 
with  practically  autocratic  powers, 
and  set  himself  to  regain  the 
power  and  prestige  of  France. 

The  strong  government  of  Napo¬ 
leon  was  welcomed  by  the  majority  of  the  people.  Through  his 
wonderful  energy  and  ability,  Napoleon  won  back  Italy  by  a 
series  of  brilliant  victories,  induced  Russia  to  leave  the  coali¬ 
tion,  and  forced  Austria  to  make  a  humiliating  peace  (1801). 

Russia  now  formed  an  armed  neutrality  agreement  between 
the  northern  powers,  including  herself,  which  declined  to  allow 
Great  Britain  to  search  neutral  vessels  for  enemies’  goods.  This 
action  England  regarded  as  hostile,  and  a  fleet  under  Admiral 
Parker  and  Nelson  was  dispatched  to  the  Baltic.  The  Danish 
fleet  was  defeated  off  Copenhagen,  and  England  gained  control  of 
the  Baltic.  England  was  supreme  at  sea  as  Napoleon  was  on  land. 

587.  Restrictive  Laws;  Ireland.  —  Meantime  domestic  affairs 
were  claiming  the  serious  attention  of  the  British  government. 
Through  fear  of  revolutionary  movements,  stringent  legislation  had 


Napoleon  Bonaparte 
After  the  portrait  by  Paul  Delaroche 


462 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


been  passed  in  England,  the  most  repressive  of  which  was  the 
suspension  (1794)  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Actd  In  this  legisla¬ 
tion  Pitt  was  supported  by  the  great  majority  of  the  people. 

The  Irish  Parliament  (§  560)  was  wholly  Protestant  and  the 
large  Catholic  population  was  unrepresented.  Some  of  the 
Protestants,  led  by  Henry  Grattan,  with  whom  Pitt  sympathized, 
wished  to  have  Catholics  sit  in  the  Parliament ;  others  were  bit¬ 
terly  opposed,  because  they  believed  that  Protestant  ascendancy 
would  be  lost.  The  Protestants  were  divided,  and  the  English 
government  by  means  of  influence  and  bribery  controlled  the 
Parliament. 

588.  “  United  Irishmen ;  ”  “  Orangemen.”  —  Stirred  up  as  Irish¬ 
men  had  been  by  the  American  Revolution,  the  French  Revolu¬ 
tion  had  a  great  effect  upon  them.  A  society  to  work  for 
Catholic  emancipation,  parliamentary  and  other  reforms  was 
organized  and  called  the  “United  Irishmen.”^  This  movement 
soon  resulted  in  a  purpose  to  gain  the  complete  independence  of 
the  island.  On  the  other  side,  the  extreme  Protestants  formed  an 
organization  first  called  “  Orange  Lodges,”  and  then  the  “  Orange¬ 
men.”®  Between  these  two  extremes  was  the  great  body  of  the 
people.  In  1793  a  Catholic  Relief  Bill  was  passed  by  which 
Catholics  were  given  the  right  to  vote  for  members  of  Parliament, 
but  were  not  allowed  to  be  elected  to  Parliament  —  a  measure 
that  could  do  but  little  good. 

589.  France  and  Ireland,  1796;  Irish  Rebellion,  1798. — 
That  the  United  Irishmen  should  make  overtures  to  France,  and 
that  France  should  see  in  Ireland  a  chance  to  injure  England,  was 
a  legitimate  result  of  the  state  of  affairs.  In  1796,  after  the  news 
of  the  coalition  between  England,  Austria,  and  Prussia,  the  French 
Directory  prepared  to  invade  Ireland  with  25,000  men  under 

1  Others  were  the  Alien  Bill,  requiring  all  foreigners  to  state  their  business  and  to 
be  registered ;  the  Traitorous  Correspondence  Bill,  extending  and  defining  the  law 
of  treason;  and  the  Seditious  Meetings  Bill. 

2  So  called  because  at  first  it  was  the  purpose  to  unite  both  Catholics  and  Prot¬ 
estants  in  the  movement.  ^  Sq  called  after  William  of  Orange. 


REBELLION  IN  IRELAND 


463 


General  Hoche.  The  expedition  started  and  some  vessels  reached 
Bantry  Bay,  but  owing  to  severe  storms  the  attempt  was  a  failure. 
Troubles  arose  in  the  north  of  Ireland  between  the  Orangemen 
and  Catholics,  and  the  latter  were  severely  treated  by  the  govern- 


Sackville  Street,  Dublin,  Latter  Part  of  the  Nineteenth  Century 

ment  troops,  torture  even  being  used  to  discover  where  arms  were 
concealed. 

In  1798  there  was  actual  rebellion,  and  for  some  time  a  reign 
of  terror  existed  in  the  island.  The  Protestant  victors  inflicted 
upon  the  insurgents  atrocities  too  terrible  to  describe. 

590.  The  Union  of  England  and  Ireland.  1800.  —  Pitt  now 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  only  way  to  keep  the  peace  was 
to  unite  Ireland  and  England  under  one  government.  But  by 
the  agreement  of  1782  this  could  not  be  done  unless  the  Irish 
Parliament  was  willing  to  vote  its  own  dissolution.  The  means 
taken  to  accomplish  this  did  not  seem  out  of  the  way  in  the 
eighteenth  century.  There  were  in  Ireland,  as  in  Plngland, 
boroughs  returning  members  to  Parliament  which  were  controlled 


464 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


by  some  rich  man  or  noble.^  Therefore,  to  gain  a  majority  in 
the  Parliament,  the  English  government  bought  seats  of  the  own¬ 
ers,  bestowed  titles  of  nobility  where  it  was  thought  they  would 
be  useful,  gave  pensions,  and,  to  some  extent,  used  direct  bribery. 
By  this  means  the  Irish  Parliament  in  1800  was  brought  to 
approve  of  a  scheme  of  union  which  was  accepted  by  the  Eng¬ 
lish  Parliament  and  received  the  royal  approval  (August  2,  1800). 

591.  Terms  of  the  Irish  Union;  Resignation  of  Pitt,  1801. — 
The  union  went  into  effect  on  January  i,  1801.  The  Irish 
Parliament  was  abolished  and  the  people  of  Ireland  were  to 
be  represented  in  the  British  Parliament  by  100  members  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  by  thirty-two  Irish  representative  peers  ^ 
in  the  Lords.  These  were  chosen  for  life  by  the  body  of  the  Irish 
nobles.  The  crown,  moreover,  was  not  to  increase  the  number  of 
Irish  peers  by  the  creation  of  new  peerages.  There  was  to  be  free¬ 
dom  of  trade  between  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  but  the  law 
courts  and  the  executive  departments  of  government  were  separate. 

The  Catholics  took  no  active  part  in  these  arrangements  and 
their  interests  were  not  directly  looked  after.®  It  was,  however, 
understood  that  something  would  be  done  for  them.  Pitt  intended 
to  give  them  representation  in  Parliament  and  other  rights,  and 
immediately  after  the  Act  of  Union  took  steps  in  this  direction. 
That  nothing  was  done  was  due  to  the  bigotry  and  obstinacy  of 
George  III,  who  held  that  to  grant  privileges  to  Catholics  would 
violate  his  coronation  oath.  When  Pitt  found  that  persistence 
was  useless,  he  resigned  his  post  as  prime  minister  (March,  1801). 
Had  he  been  successful  in  carrying  his  measures,  much,  if  not  all, 
of  the  trouble  of  succeeding -years  would  doubtless  have  been 

1  It  is  stated  that  out  of  300  members  of  the  Irish  House  188  were  nominated  by 
88  individuals  in  boroughs  where  nomination  meant  election. 

2  The  number  was  made  up  by  four  Irish  Episcopal  bishops  and  twenty-eight 
lay  peers. 

®  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  had  the  Catholics  united  against  the  Union  it 
could  not  have  been  carried.  Some  advoc.ited,  some  opposed,  more  were  neutral. 
They  believed  they  had  less  to  fear  from  an  imperial  Parliament  than  from  an 
Irish  Protestant  one. 


UNION  OF  ENGLAND  AND  IRELAND  465 

avoided,  and  the  Irish  question  might  have  had  a  peaceful  solu¬ 
tion  more  than  a  century  ago. 

A  new  great  seal  and  royal  banner  were  adopted ;  the  Irish 
cross  was  added  to  the  Union  Jack ;  the  words  King  of  France 
were  dropped  from  the  royal  title,  which  became  King  of  the 
United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland.^ 

592.  Peace  of  Amiens.  1802. — 

The  battle  of  Copenhagen  withdrew 
Denmark  from  the  armed  neutrality, 
the  Czar  Paul  was  assassinated  (1801), 
and  his  successor,  Alexander  I,  made 
peace  with  England,  so  as  England 
was  supreme  at  sea  there  was  little  to  fight  about.  A  peace  was 
therefore  concluded  between  France,  England,  Spain,  and  Holland 
by  the  Treaty  of  Amiens  (March,  1802).  England  retained  Cey¬ 
lon,  but  otherwise  gained  .little  by  the  war  so  far  as  territory  was 
concerned. 

593.  Schemes  of  Bonaparte ;  War  Renewed,  1803.  —  Bonaparte 
after  the  Treaty  of  Amiens  apparently  attempted  to  regain  for 
France  the  colonial  empire  she  had  lost  in  1763  (§  551)-  With 
this  in  view  he  sent  an  expedition  to  Haiti  to  make  it  a  base  for 
operations  in  the  West ;  he  planned  an  American  colonial  empire 
in  Louisiana,  demanding  of  Spain  that  she  should  transfer  that  ter¬ 
ritory  to  France,  which  was  done  secretly;  he  sent  an  expedition 
to  India  to  see  what  could  be  accomplished  there  ;  and  he  even 
seems  to  have  had  designs  on  Australia.  All  these  plans  came  to 
naught.  The  failure  of  the  Haiti  expedition  was  fatal  to  his 
Louisiana  project,  and  rather  than  let  that  territory  fall  into  the 
hands  of  England,  as,  from  her  control  of  the  sea,  it  was  practically 
sure  to  do,  he  sold  it  to  the  United  States  (1803). 

By  the  Treaty  of  .Amiens  the  island  of  Malta  was  to  be  restored  to 

'  The  population  of  Ireland  in  1801  was  4,500,000  and  that  of  Great  Britain 
10,500,000;  in  igii  that  of  Ireland  was  4,381,951  and  of  Great  Britain  40,834,714. 


ilillliilllllillilllliililill 

The  Union  Jack  after  the 
Union  with  Ireland 


466 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


the  Knights  of  St.  John,  its  former  owners ;  but  England,  fearful 
that  Bonaparte  might  make  it  a  base  for  future  operations  against 
Egypt,  proposed  to  hold  it  for  ten  years,  and  then  restore  it  to 
the  Knights.  Bonaparte  made  this  a  pretext  to  declare  war  against 
England,  and  several  thousand  British  citizens  who  were  visiting 
France  were  seized  because  of  an  attack  by  the  English  on  some 
French  shipping  and  were  put  in  prison.^  In  little  more  than  a 
year,  therefore,  after  the  Treaty  of  Amiens,  war  began  again 
(May,  1803). 

594.  Justification  of  the  War.  —  The  war  lasted  until  1814. 
How  far  it  was  justified,  even  on  general  principles  of  military  and 
political  expediency,  has  been  with  many  a  matter  of  question. 
One  now  can  scarcely  doubt  that  the  English  course  was  unwise  ; 
a  steady  policy  of  neutrality  and  peace  would  have  been  far  better 
for  England  in  every  way,  and  would  at  least  have  been  justifiable 
on  her  part.  The  war  which  followed  brought  upon  her  great 
losses  and  heavy  burdens.  The  main  object  of  the  war  was 
undoubtedly  to  maintain  the  balance  of  power  in  Europe,  and, 
nominally,  to  protect  the  liberties  of  Europe  against  the  encroach¬ 
ments  of  a  usurper  —  Napoleon  Bonaparte.  That  the  people  on 
the  Continent  did  not  feel  that  there  was  likely  to  be  any  special 
addition  to  their  burdens  should  the  French  despot  succeed,  is 
evident  from  the  comparative  apathy  with  which  they  accepted 
his  rule  whenever  they  came  under  it. 

In  Great  Britain  the  whole  nation  was  united  against  Napoleon, 
and  when  an  invasion  seemed  imminent,  300,000  volunteers 
promptly  offered  themselves  to  protect  their  country.  Still,  had 
it  not  been  for  the  twenty  miles  of  sea  between  Dover  and  Calais, 
it  might  have  gone  hard  with  Great  Britain.  While  there  is  no 
reason  to  suppose  that  Napoleon  could  ever  have  really  con¬ 
quered  England,  he  might  have  been  able  to  inflict  upon  her 
terrible  losses. 

•  The  number  is  said  to  have  been  as  high  as  12,000,  none  of  whom  were  allowed 
to  return  to  England. 


PITT  FORMS  COALITION 


467 


595.  Bonaparte’s  Further  Schemes.  —  Meantime  Bonaparte 
was  collecting  a  large  army  at  Boulogne  for  the  invasion  of  Eng¬ 
land  and  preparing  a  fleet  to  carry  his  army  across  the  Channel. 
He  stirred  up  an  attempt  at  rebellion  in  Ireland  under  Robert 
Emmet,  which  only  resulted  in  a  riot  at  Dublin.  Emmet  was 
taken  and  hanged.  An  attempt  to  injure  the  English  power  in 
India  by  inciting  the  natives  to  rebellion  and  attack  was  fairly  suc¬ 
cessful,  especially  among  the  Mahrattas.  But  the  English  were 
able,  not  only  to  overcome  all  resistance,  but  also  to  increase  the 
territory  under  English  rule  and  influence. 

596.  Pitt  again  Prime  Minister.  1804. — The  need  of  a 
strong  man  at  the  helm  was  clear.  Addington  resigned  (1804), 
and  Pitt  became  for  the  second  time  prime  minister,  though  his 
health  was  insufficient  to  stand  such  a  heavy  strain.  Vigor  was 
soon  imparted  to  the  cabinet,  and  a  new  coalition  was  formed 
against  Bonaparte,  composed  of  Russia,  Austria,  and  Sweden  with 
England. 

597.  Napoleon  Emperor,  1804;  French  Victories  of  Ulm  and 
Austerlitz,  1805.  —  Napoleon,  who  had  himself  created  Emperor 
(September  2,  1804),  aware  of  the  hostile  attitude  of  Austria  and 
Russia  and  of  the  coalition  which  Pitt  had  formed,  determined  to 
crush  Austria  before  she  had  time  to  unite  with  Russia.  Breaking 
up  his  great  camp  at  Boulogne,  he  transferred  his  army  with 
amazing  rapidity  to  Germany,  forced  an  Austrian  army  at  Ulm 
to  capitulate  (October  19,  1805),  and  hastened  to  meet  another 
army  which  was  composed  of  Austrians  and  Russians.  This  he 
did  at  Austerlitz,  a  battle  which  was  one  of  his  greatest  victories 
(December  2,  1805), 

598.  Trafalgar,  1805;  French  Success,  1805-1807.  —  Nelson, 
who  had  recently  returned  from  an  expedition  to  the  West  Indies, 
offered  his  services  for  an  attack  upon  the  French  and  Spanish 
fleets.  They  were  accepted,  and  on  the  21st  of  October,  1805, 
he  met  the  enemy  off  Cape  Trafalgar,  not  far  from  Gibraltar, 
and  won  the  sea  fight  of  Trafalgar,  perhaps  the  most  noted  naval 


468 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


victory  in  British  annals.  Nelson  himself  was  mortally  wounded 
in  the  action,  but  lived  to  know  of  his  great  victory.'  This  defeat 
destroyed  the  French  hopes  of  naval  supremacy,  and  removed 
from  the  English  all  fear  of  an  invasion. 

By  his  victories  of  Ulm  and  Austerlitz,  Napoleon  was  able  to 

dictate  terms  to  Austria  in  the 
Treaty  of  Pressburg.  From  this 
time  the  ambition  of  Napoleon 
knew  no  limits,  and  he  deter¬ 
mined  to  be  the  dictator  and 
autocrat  of  Europe.  He  set  up 
dependent  kingdoms  around 
France,  putting  on  the  thrones 
members  of  his  own  family,  or 
uniting  small  states  in  confedera¬ 
tions  which  would  be  subser¬ 
vient  to  his  will,  a  policy  which 
by  breaking  national  tradition 
tended  to  unite  all  Europe 
against  him.  In  various  cam¬ 
paigns  he  forced  Prussia  to  make  peace  (1806),  and  also  Russia 
(1807).  He  was  master  of  the  Continent;  England  alone  with¬ 
stood  him,  and  by  her  command  of  the  seas  continually  menaced 
his  power. 

599.  Death  of  Pitt;  “Ministry  of  All  the  Talents,”  1806. 
—  England’s  great  minister,  William  Pitt,  worn  out  by  ill  health 
and  anxiety,  died  (January  23,  1806),  having  been  in  office  less 
than  two  years.  He  was  succeeded  by  a  combination  ministry, 
which  on  account  of  its  character  was  called  the  “  Ministry  of  All 
the  Talents,”  in  which  Charles  James  Fox  was  secretary  of  state. 
Fox,  though  a  former  admirer  of  Napoleon,  and  favoring  peace, 
had  to.  yield  to  the  war  spirit,  but,  before  he  could  accomplish 

1  It  was  at  the  beginning  of  this  conflict  that  Nelson  hoisted  his  famous  signal, 
“  England  expects  every  man  to  do  his  duty.” 


Lord  Nelson 


NAPOLEON  ATTACKS  ENGLAND’S  COMMERCE  469 


much,  he  died  in  September,  1806,  the  last  thing  he  did  being  to 
pledge  the  government  to  pass  an  act  abolishing  the  slave  trade. 
This  was  done  in  the  next  year  (1807). 

600.  Catholic  Relief  Bill  Fails;  Ministry  Resign,  1807.  —  By 
the  Act  of  Union  the  English  and  Irish  armies  had  been  made 
one,  and  the  privileges  of  the  Irish  Catholics  to  hold  offices 
as  high  as  that  of  colonel  had  been  granted.  It  was  the  desire 
of  the  ministry  to  open  all  positions  in  the  army  and  navy  to 
Catholics  and  Dissenters,  and  a  bill  to  this  effect  had  been 
prepared ;  but  George  III  refused  his  sanction,  and  the  ministry 
gave  way,  but  recorded  their  approval  of  such  a  bill  and  their 
right  to  advise  the  king  at  any  time  in  regard  to  it.  The  king 
then  demanded  that  they  should  agree  not  to  advise  him  at  any 
time  in  the  future,  but  they  refused  and  then  resigned.  After 
the  peace  between  Russia  and  Napoleon,  a  naval  expedition  was 
sent  to  Denmark,  though  it  was  a  neutral  state,  and  it  was  suc¬ 
cessful  in  capturing  the  Danish  fleet  and  in  securing  the  small 
island  of  Heligoland^  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  Elbe  (1807). 

601.  Berlin  and  Milan  Decrees;  Orders  in  Council,  1806-1807. 
—  Napoleon  resolved  to  attack  England  through  her  commerce. 
As  he  controlled  the  greater  part  of  Europe  he  could  inflict  great 
damage  on  her  commercial  supremacy  by  shutting  out  her  goods. 
This  policy  already  employed  was  extended  by  his  Berlin  Decree 
(May  19,  1806),  in  which  he  declared  that  the  British  Isles  were 
in  a  state  of  blockade,  and  that  any  ship,  no  matter  of  what 
country,  which  attempted  to  enter  them  would  be  seized.  This 
was  called  the  Continental  System.  Great  Britain  replied  to  this 
threat  by  her  Orders  in  Council  (January  7,  1807),  in  which  she 
declared  the  ports  of  France  and  her  allies  blockaded,  and  also 
required  vessels  of  neutral  nations  to  call  at  an  English  port  and 
get  leave  to  enter  any  blockaded  port. 

England,  finding  that  Napoleon  was  putting  his  Decree  in  force, 

1  This  little  island  was  held  by  the  British  until  1890,  when  it  was  transferred  to 
Germany  for  certain  concessions  in  South  Africa. 


470 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


issued  a  second  set  of  Orders  in  Council  more  stringent  than  the 
first.  To  this  Napoleon  replied  by  his  Milan  Decrees  (Novem¬ 
ber  23,  December  17,  1807),  threatening  to  seize  any  neutral 
ship  which  should  obey  the  Orders  in  Council.  Severe  as  was  the 
injury  inflicted  on  Great  Britain  by  the  Continental  System,  that 
incurred  by  France  was  far  greater,  for  she  and  her  allies  were 
greatly  in  want  of  the  goods  which  at  this  time  only  Great  Britain 
could  furnish  in  needed  quantities.  By  this  policy  Napoleon 
alienated  nearly  the  whole  Continent,  for  it  was  not  only  obviously 
selfish,  but  it  also  vastly  increased  the  cost  of  living,  thus  affecting 
people  of  every  rank. 

602.  Portugal  and  Spain.  1807-1808.  —  In  pursuance  of  Na¬ 
poleon’s  policy  of  conquest,  a  French  army  sent  to  reduce  Portugal 
to  submission  was  successful,  and  the  royal  family  fled  to  the  Portu¬ 
guese  colony  of  Brazil  (1807).  The  king  of  Spain,  a  worthless  man, 
quarreled  with  his  son.  On  an  appeal  to  Napoleon,  he  drove 
both  of  them  away  and  put  his  own  brother  Joseph  on  the  throne. 
This  was  a  blunder  possibly  worse  than  that  of  the  Continental 
System. 

England  sent  an  army  into  Portugal  under  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley 
(later  Duke  of  Wellington),  recently  returned  from  his  successes  in 
India.  Wellesley  defeated  the  French,  who  for  a  few  months  lost 
control  of  both  Spain  and  Portugal. 

603.  Peninsular  War,  1809-1814;  Fall  of  Napoleon,  1814. — 
Once  more  Wellesley  was  sent  to  the  Peninsula  (1809)  and  for 
five  years  waged  a  slow  but  sure  warfare  against  the  French  in 
Spain  and  Portugal.  Napoleon  himself  came  to  Spain,  but  trouble 
in  Austria  took  him  away.  In  1810  Russia  broke  with  him, 
but,  gathering  a  grand  army,  he  set  out  for  the  conquest  of  that 
country.  As  in  Spain,  national  opposition  was  aroused,  and  this, 
added  to  the  severity  of  the  winter,  defeated  him.  He  retired 
with  but  a  wreck  of  his  grand  army.  In  1813  all  Germany 
rose  against  Napoleon,  and  after  a  severe  three  days’  battle  at 
Leipzig  (October  16-18,  1813)  he  was  defeated.  The  allies  followed 


THE  FALL  OF  NAPOLEON 


471 


his  retreat  to  France,  and  he  was  forced  to  abdicate  his  throne  (April 
6,  1814).  He  was  sent  to  the  island  of  Elba  in  the  Mediterranean. 
By  the  First  Treaty  of  Paris  (1814),  Louis  XVIII,  brother  of  Louis 
XVI,  was  put  on  the  French  throne  and  the  Bourbons  were  thus 
restored  (May  3,  1814).  In  accordance  with  the  treaty  also,  a 


congress  representing  the  allied  powers  was  appointed  to  be  held 
at  Vienna  to  settle  the  affairs  of  Europe. 

604.  English  Aggressions.  —  Meantime  England  cannot  be 
held  guiltless  of  acts  of  aggression.  The  only  palliation  for  these 
acts  is  the  extraordinary  state  of  affairs.  Her  questionable  attack 
upon  Denmark  has  already  been  referred  to  (§  600).  Her  treat¬ 
ment  of  the  neutral  powers  was  unjust  and  overbearing,  and  was 
carried  out  only  by  reason  of  her  great  naval  strength.  She  for¬ 
bade  all  direct  trade  with  France  or  any  part  of  the  Continent 
she  claimed,  and  exercised  the  right  to  search  any  neutral  vessel 
for  contraband  goods  and  for  deserters  from  the  British  navy. 


472 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


605.  War  with  United  States.  —  The  British  claim  of  the 
right  to  search  vessels,  and  to  impress  sailors,  led  to  war 
with  the  United  States.  In  1812  that  country  declared  war 
against  Great  Britain,  and  a  conflict  both  by  sea  and  land  ensued, 
the  greater  part  of  which  from  a  military  point  of  view  was  not 
creditable  to  either  side.  At  sea  the  few  vessels  of  the  United 
States  at  first  inflicted  naval  losses  and  damages  such  as  England 
had  rarely  known,  but,  owing  to  the  smallness  of  the  American 
navy,  were  not  able  to  continue  their  victories,  or  even  to  pro¬ 
tect  their  coast  from  blockade.^  The  ill  fortune  of  the  Amer¬ 
icans  on  land  was  redeemed  by  the  single  victory  of  Andrew 
Jackson  at  New  Orleans  (January  8,  1815);  and  that  was  after 
peace  had  been  declared  in  Europe,  though  news  of  it  had  not 
reached  America.  While  the  English  had  done  comparatively 
little  with  their  armies,  their  burning  of  the  public  buildings  at 
Washington  (1814)  long  rankled  in  the  minds  of  the  Americans.^ 
Had  there  been  a  little  more  wisdom  on  each  side,  and  less  pre¬ 
cipitation  on  the  part  of  the  Americans,  war  would  have  been 
avoided.  In  the  treaty  which  followed  (Treaty  of  Ghent,  De¬ 
cember  24,  1814)  the  chief  occasion  of  the  war  —  impressment  of 
American  sailors  —  was  not  mentioned.  The  reason  for  this  was 
that  owing  to  the  close  of  the  continental  wars  there  would  be  no 
need  for  impressment.  There  has  been  peace  between  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States  ever  since.  There  is  no  other  dividing  line 
between  two  nations  ,so  long  as  that  between  Canada  and  the 
United  States,  on  which  no  hostile  forts  or  fortifications  are  to  be 
found,  or  have  been  found  for  a  century. 

606.  Congress  of  Vienna,  1814;  “The  Hundred  Days”;  Ban¬ 
ishment  of  Napoleon,  1815. — The  Congress  of  Vienna  (§  603) 

■  The  losses  of  the  British  by  reason  of  the  American  privateers  were  also  very 
great. 

2  The  British  claimed  that  the  burning  by  the  Americans  of  York  (now  Toronto), 
Canada,  justified  the  burning  of  Washington.  The  cases,  however,  were  not  simi¬ 
lar;  the  former  was  unauthorized,  the  latter  (Washington)  was  ordered  by  the 
British  government.  (See  Green,  Short  History,  chap  x,  §  4.) 


EFFECTS  OF  THE  WAR  ON  ENGLAND 


473 


proceeded  to  rearrange  and  settle  the  affairs  of  Europe.  It 
should  be  noted  that  in  this  matter  the  sovereigns  alone  were 
considered,  while  the  cause  of  the  people  was  ignored.  That  this 
contempt  of  popular  rights  caused  the  subsequent  revolutions  and 
excesses  in  Europe  can  hardly  be  questioned.  The  lessons  of  the 
French  Revolution  had  yet  to  be  learned  by  the  rulers  of  conti¬ 
nental  Europe.  While  the  Congress  was  in  session,  the  delegates 
were  startled  to  hear  that  Napoleon  had  left  Elba,  had  reached 
P'rance  (March  i,  1815),  gathered  an  army,  and  had  reached 
Paris,  from  which  Louis  XVIII  had  fled,  and  had  entered  the 
Tuilleries  (March  20,  1815).  At  once  armies  were  collected  to 
put  down  the  rash  emperor.  Napoleon,  following  his  old  tac¬ 
tics  of  quick  action,  endeavored  to  crush  his  foes  singly.  He 
advanced  towards  the  English,  Dutch,  and  German  forces  under 
Sir  Arthur  Wellesley,  now  Duke  of  Wellington.  The  armies  met 
at  Waterloo,  near  Brussels.  Victory  was  almost  within  the  grasp 
of  Napoleon,  when  Bliicher,  the  Prussian  general,  with  his  troops 
arrived  on  the  field,  and  the  French  were  defeated  (June  18, 
1815). 

Napoleon  had  staked  his  all  and  failed ;  he  fell  back  on  Paris, 
and  again  abdicated  (June  22,  1815).  His  second  reign  had  lasted 
just  one  hundred  days.  Despairing  of  escape,  he  surrendered  him¬ 
self  to  an  English  man-of-war.  By  the  decision  of  the  four  great 
powers,  Austria,  England,  Russia,  and  Prussia,  he  was  sent  to  the 
tropical  island  of  St.  Helena  in  the  Atlantic,  a  British  possession 
off  the  coast  of  Africa,  to  be  kept  in  a  life  captivity.  There  he 
died.  May  5,  1821.  In  1840  his  body  was  brought  to  France  and 
interred  in  the  magnificent  mausoleum  under  the  dome  of  the 
Church  of  the  Invalides  in  Paris. 

By  the  Second  Treaty  of  Paris  (November,  1815)  Louis  XVHI 
was  again  set  upon  the  French  throne. 

607.  Effects  of  the  War  on  England.  —  England  now  entered 
upon  a  period  of  external  peace.  For  more  than  twenty  years  she 
had  been  almost  continually  engaged  in  an  expensive  war,  a  war 


474 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


which  had  drained  her  resources  and  involved  her  in  a  heavy  debt. 
During  this  war  her  domestic  concerns  had  suffered  severely. 
As  a  result  large  numbers  of  the  population  were  far  from  being 
contented  with  their  condition.  A  review  of  the  history  of  the  war 
confirms  the  opinion  that  England  should  not  have  entered  the 
conflict. 

On  the  other  hand,  England  had  made  herself  the  first  naval 
power  in  the  world  ;  she  had  acquired  an  influential  place  in  the 
affairs  of  Europe ;  and  her  colonial  empire  had  been  greatly  en¬ 
larged.  From  this  war  dates  her  possession  of  Malta,  the  Ionian 
Isles,  Heligoland,  Trinidad,  Mauritius,  Tobago,  Ceylon,  and  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope.* 

References.  —  Green,  Short  History,  chap,  x,  §§  3-4;  Gardiner,  Student’s 
History,  chaps.  1-liv;  Terry,  History,  Part  IV,  chap,  vi;  Tout,  Advanced 
History,  Book  VII,  chaps,  iii,  §  32-v;  Macaulay,  Essays,  Warren  Hastings; 
Traill,  Social  England,  vol.  V,  chaps,  xix-xx;  Adams  and  Stephens,  Select 
Documents,  §§  256-259;  Cheney,  Readings,  chap,  xviii,  §§  v-vi;  Colby, 
Selections,  §§  103-105,  107-115;  Kendall,  Source-Book,  §§  123-127; 

Lee,  Source-Book,  §§  202-208. 

'  The  Ionian  Isles  were  ceded  to  Greece  in  1864,  and  Heligoland  to  Germany 
in  1890. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 


ERA  OF  REFORM 

608.  Political  and  Economic  Conditions  in  England.  —  England 
had  seldom  needed  wise  men  at  the  helm  of  government  more 
than  in  1815.  The  policy  of  the  Tories,  who  were  in  control,  was 
to  let  things  alone  as  far  as  possible.  The  prime  minister.  Lord 
Liverpool,  was  a  man  of  considerable  ability,  as  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that  his  administration  of  fifteen  years  (1812-1827)  ranks 
in  length  of  service  to  those  of  Walpole  and  the  younger  Pitt. 

George  III  had  become  permanently  insane  in  1810,  and  his  son 
George  had  been  appointed  Prince  Regent.  Affiliating  with  the 
Whigs  when  simply  Prince  of  Wales,  he  now  allied  himself  with 
the  Tories  and  became  an  advocate  of  the  prerogatives  of  the  crown. 
But  by  his  vicious  private  life  he  had  forfeited  the  respect  of  all 
parties. 

The  wealthier  classes  in  England  as  a  rule  had  little  sympathy 
with  the  lower  classes.  Owing  to  pressure  of  taxation,  the  heavy 
duties  on  grain,  and  the  disordered  conditions  of  labor,  partly  the 
result  of  the  Industrial  Revolution,  there  was  widespread  and  genu¬ 
ine  distress,  to  relieve  which  little  or  no  attempt  was  made  by  the 
government,  or  by  Parliament,  in  which  the  working  classes  were 
unrepresented.  An  uprising  like  the  French  Revolution  was 
greatly  feared,  and  it  was  believed  that  only  force  could  prevent  it. 
It  was  to  be  expected  that  riots  would  occur.  One  of  these,  in 
1816  near  London,  was  put  down  by  troops;  the  Habeas  Corpus 
Act  was  suspended  by  Parliament  and  public  discussion  of  the 
political  situation  in  meetings  or  in  the  press  was  forbidden.  A 
public  meeting  held  in  Manchester  to  protest  against  the  action  of 
the  government  was  dispersed  by  a  body  of  cavalry  (1819),  and  the 
government  was  so  alarmed  that  Parliament  passed  a  series  of 

475 


476 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


measures  known  as  the  Six  Acts  or“  Gag  Laws,”  greatly  restricting 
the  right  of  public  meetings. 

The  government  was  equally  ill  advised  in  regard  to  economic 
questions.  A  striking  evidence  of  this  was  the  passage  in  1815  of 
a  law  in  the  interest  of  the  great  landowners,  which  forbade  the 
importation  of  grain  until  the  price  was  80  shillings  a  quarter 
(480  lbs.).  This  made  it  quite  impossible  for  the  poor  to  buy 
flour,  for  there  was  a  great  scarcity  of  grain  in  the  country. 
About  the  same  time  the  income  tax,  a  burden  which  fell  only  on 
the  well-to-do  classes,  was  removed. 

609.  Death  of  George  III;  George  IV.  —  The  poor  old  king, 
deaf,  blind,  decrepit,  and  insane,  died  in  1820,  and  was  succeeded 
by  George  IV,  whose  character  has  been  already  indicated. 
He  had  married  Caroline  of  Brunswick  in  1795,  but  a  separation 
had  soon  taken  place;  their  only  child,  the  Princess  Charlotte, 
had  died  in  1817.  When  George  ascended  the  throne  Caroline 
came  back  to  England  to  claim  her  rights  as  queen,  and  attempting 
to  be  present  at  the  coronation  (1821),  she  was  thrust  out  by  the 
king’s  orders.  The  next  month  she  died.  The  result  of  the  affair 
was  to  lower  the  king  still  further  in  public  opinion. 

610.  Cabinet  Changes;  Canning;  Huskisson  ;  Peel.  —  Even 
among  the  Tories  there  were  many  men  who  believed  in  moderate 
and  gradual  reform.  Among  them  were  George  Canning,  a  dis¬ 
ciple  of  Pitt,  Sir  Robert  Peel,  and  Huskisson.  Lord  Liverpool, 
the  prime  minister,  realizing  the  necessity  of  recognizing  this 
new  element,  when  opportunity  offered,  made  Canning  foreign 
secretary,  Huskisson  president  of  the  board  of  trade,  an  office  for 
which  he  was  well  qualified,  and  Sir  Robert  Peel  home  secretary. 

611.  Sir  Robert  Peel. — Sir  Robert  Peel,  the  son  of  a 
Lancashire  manufacturer,  was  a  man  of  great  ability  with  a  clear 
head  for  business.  He  was  earnestly  desirous  to  remedy 
social  abuses.  The  medieval  custom  of  severe  penalties  for 
trivial  offenses  still  prevailed,  and  the  penalty  of  death  was 
prescribed  for  more  than  two  hundred  offenses  —  among  them 


GEORGE  IV 


477 


were  such  slight  things  as  injuring  Westminster  Bridge,  appearing 
with  a  blackened  face  on  the  public  highway,  and  all  thefts,  even 
petty  larceny.  Such  severe  penalties  were  so  revolting  to  the 
public  sense  of  justice  that,  rather  than  find  men  guilty,  juries 
would  acquit  in  the  face  of  the  clearest  evidence.  Through  the 
efforts  of  Peel  the 
death  penalty  was 
abolished  for  more 
than  one  hundred 
crimes,^  and  “  before 
he  left  office  in  1827 
nearly  three  hundred 
acts  relating  to  the 
criminal  law  had  been 
wholly  or  partially  re¬ 
pealed,  and  such  of 
their  provisions  as 
were  still  retained  had 
been  consolidated  in 
eight  new  statutes.” 

While  all  the  credit  for 
this  revolution  in  the  criminal  law  of  England  cannot  be  given 
to  Peel,  yet  without  his  support  it  could  not  have  been  accom¬ 
plished.  To  Peel  also  is  due  the  reform  of  the  police  force  in 
London,  making  it  the  best  in  the  world. 

612.  William  Huskisson,  George  Canning. — To  Huskisson,  also, 
great  praise  is  due.  l^e  was  the  best  economist  of  his  day  in  public 
life  and  his  clearness  of  perception  brought  about  important  reforms. 
He  modified  the  navigation  laws,  and  carried  through  Parliament 
an  act  by  which  the  government  was  authorized  to  make  treaties 
with  foreign  nations  by  which  freedom  of  trade  would  be  given  in 

1  He  was  not,  however,  the  first  Englishman  to  make  such  a  reformation.  William 
Penn,  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  earlier,  in  his  code  for  Pennsylvania,  had 
abolished  the  death  penalty  e.xcept  for  treason  and  murder. 


SiR  Robert  Peel 

After  the  portrait  by  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence 


478 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


return  for  similar  privileges.  This  was  known  as  the  principle  of 
reciprocity,  so  much  followed  in  later  years,  and  still  of  the  greatest 
importance  in  international  affairs.  He  also  secured  the  reduc¬ 
tion  of  many  customs  duties,  and,  under  certain  conditions,  allowed 
the  formation  of  trade-unions,  which  had  before  been  absolutely 
prohibited.  George  Canning  deserves  much  credit  for  his  con¬ 
duct  of  the  Foreign  Office. 

613.  Holy  Alliance,  1815.  —  After  the  settlement  of  European 
affairs  in  1815  the  one  aim  of  the  monarchs  was  to  suppress 
any  popular  movement  towards  liberty.  An  agreement,  called 
the  Holy  Alliance,  had  been  entered  into  by  Austria,  Prussia, 
and  Russia  (1815).  The  object  of  this  was,  nominally,  to  support 
and  carry  out  the  principles  of  the  Christian  religion  in  all  na¬ 
tional  and  international  affairs.  The  sovereigns  were  to  consider 
themselves  the  fathers  of  their  subjects,  a  position  to  which  they 
were  delegated  by  Providence ;  this  implied  that  they  knew 
altogether  what  was  best  for  their  subjects. 

Whatever  may  have  been  in  the  mind  of  the  Emperor  Alex¬ 
ander  of  Russia,  who  is  said  to  have  been  the  author  of  this 
scheme,  the  result  was  that  it  became  on  the  continent  of  Europe 
an  instrument  for  crushing  any  steps  toward  liberalism.  Canning 
showed  conclusively  his  disapproval  of  the  principles  of  the  Holy 
Alliance,  and  declared  his  position  to  be  that  of  non-interference 
in  the  domestic  concerns  of  other  nations.  At  the  same  time 
he  recognized  the  new  Spanish-American  republics  in  America 
and  sent  out  British  consuls.  In  this  matter  he  worked  with  the 
United  States,  and  it  was  certainly  with  his  knowledge  and  approval 
that  the  famous  Monroe  Doctrine  of  the  United  States  was  an¬ 
nounced.' 

An  undue  share  of  credit  has  been  assigned  to  Mr.  Canning  for  the  promul¬ 
gation  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine.  Canning's  proposal  went  no  farther  than  a  protest 
against  the  transfer  of  any  of  the  colonies  to  other  powers."  Canning  was  not  fond 
of  republican  institutions,  and  it  must  be  confessed  that  in  this  case  it  was  not 
so  much  to  aid  the  cause  of  freedom,  as  to  increase  British  trade,  and  from  jealousy 
of  France,  that  Canning  took  the  course  he  did. 


WILLIAM  IV 


479 


614.  Catholic  Emancipation,  1829;  Repeal  of  Test  Acts, 
1828.  —  The  great  question  now  before  England  was  “Catholic 
emancipation,”  or  the  admission  of  the  Catholics  to  seats  in 
Parliament.  Catholic  emancipation  had  been  brought  before 
Parliament  almost  every  year  since  1775,  and  had  been  a 
rock  of  danger  to  almost  every  administration.  As  a  prelim¬ 
inary  measure,  on  the  motion  of  Lord  John  Russell,  the  old  Test 
and  Corporation  Acts  (§§  437,  451),  though  annulled  every  year 
by  indemnity  acts,  were  finally  repealed. 

Just  at  this  time  Daniel  O’Connell,  an  Irishman  and  a  Catholic, 
offered  himself  for  a  vacant  seat  in  Ireland  and  was  elected. 
O’Connell  was  an  active  agitator  in  favor  of  emancipation,  a  great 
orator,  and  a  man  of  almost  unbounded  influence  over  his 
countrymen.  If  he  were  rejected  by  the  Commons,  there  would 
be  serious  risk  of  a  rebellion  in  Ireland.  The  situation  was  grave  ; 
George  IV  was  as  much  opposed  to  granting  emancipation  as 
George  III  had  been ;  the  House  of  Lords  was  hostile,  and  a 
very  large  proportion  of  the  people  looked  upon  it  with  no 
favor.  Through  the  influence  of  Peel  a  Catholic  Emancipa¬ 
tion  Bill  was  passed  by  a  large  majority  in  the  House  of  Com¬ 
mons  and  by  one  almost  equally  large  in  the  Lords  (April,  1829). 
O’Connell  submitted  to  another  election,  in  which  he  was  returned 
without  opposition  and  took  his  seat  in  Parliament.  The  act, 
however,  was  accompanied  by  another  one,  somewhat  restricting 
the  suffrage  in  Ireland.  The  oath  which  members  of  Parliament 
had  been  required  to  take  was  modified,  the  most  important 
alteration  being  that  it  now  read  “on  the  true  faith  of  Christian  ”  ; 
this  of  course  prevented  Jews  from  sitting  in  Parliament.' 

615.  Death  of  George  IV;  William  IV,  1830. — George  IV 
died  in  June,  1830,  regretted  by  no  one  except  his  favorites.  He 
was  succeeded  by  his  next  younger  brother,  William,  Duke  of 
Clarence.  William  IV  was  a  commonplace  man  of  whom  not 
very  much  was  known ;  he  was  good-natured,  simple  in  his  life, 

1  This  privilege  was  not  granted  to  the  Jews  until  1858. 


480 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


and  undignified.  He  had  chosen  the  sea  for  his  profession  and 
so  has  been  called  the  “  Sailor  King,”  but  with  little  justice,  for 
he  was  on  shore  forty  years.  He  was  sixty-five  years  old  at  his  ac¬ 
cession,  and  he  and  his  wife,  Adelaide,  had  no  children.  He  was 
fond  of  going  about  unattended,  and  was  generally  so  eccentric 
that  some  thought  he  had  inherited  his  father’s  insanity.  He 
was  popular,  and  was  supposed  to  be  in  favor  of  reform. 

616.  Revolutions  in  Europe.  1830.  —  William  IV  came  to  the 
throne  at  a  critical  period.  The  Holy  Alliance  (§  613),  so  far 
from  stemming  the  current  of  political  liberty  by  its  system  of 
repression,  only  strengthened  the  course  of  the  stream.  The 
era  of  Napoleon  had  been  followed  by  a  period  of  reaction ;  but 
very  soon  there  was  a  strong  movement  in  favor  of  democracy,  and 
all  over  Europe  the  year  1830  was  a  year  of  unrest  or  revolution. 
In  France  the  Bourbon  king,  Charles  X,  was  overthrown  and  the 
“  Bourgeois  king,”  Louis  Philippe,  Duke  of  Orleans,  a  constitu¬ 
tional  monarch,  put  in  his  place;  the  Netherlands,  which  had 
been  established  in  1815  by  the  Congress  of  Vienna  (§  606),  were 
divided,  the  southern  or  Catholic  portion  revolting  from  the  Prot¬ 
estant  Dutch,  and  so  leading  to  the  founding  of  the  Catholic 
kingdom  of  Belgium.  Germany  and  Italy  were  alike  in  a  turmoil, 
and  the  agitation  extended  to  England. 

617.  Parliamentary  Reform.  1830.  —  Parliamentary  reform, 
like  Catholic  emancipation,  was  no  new  thing ;  it  had  been  pro¬ 
posed  from  time  to  time  ever  since  the  days  of  Chatham.  The 
strong  opposition  of  the  great  landholders  of  the  aristocratic  class, 
the  long  Napoleonic  wars,  and  the  extravagant  demands  of  the 
radical  reformers,  all  worked  together  to  delay  reform.  Now, 
however,  affairs  on  the  Continent  and  the  ill-advised  words  and 
speeches  of  the  strict  Tories  brought  the  matter  to  an  issue. 

618.  Need  of  Reform.  —  It  needs  but  a  few  examples  to  show 
the  need  of  reform.  The  parliamentary  districts  had  not  been 
changed  for  hundreds  of  years,  and,  while  in  the  beginning  they 
were  doubtless  tolerably  fair,  they  had  become  in  the  process  of 


PARLIAMENTARY  REFORM 


481 


time  grossly  unjust.  Owing  to  natural  causes  population  had 
shifted  greatly :  places  which  had  been  populous  had  become 
almost  devoid  of  inhabitants  ;  while  other  places,  mere  hamlets  in 
the  past,  had  become  centers  of  large  and  growing  population. 
Old  Sarum,  which  the  elder  Pitt  represented  (§  542),  had  now  no 
inhabitants,  and  yet  returned  two  members  nominated  and  elected 
by  the  owner  of  the  land  ;  Bosseney  sent  two  members  chosen  by 
nine  electors  ;  Gatton  had  seven  voters ;  Michelle  had  five.  On 
the  other  hand,  such  large  cities  as  Birmingham,  Leeds,  Man¬ 
chester,  and  Sheffield  had  no  representation  at  all,  neither  had 
the  populous  suburbs  of  London.  The  House  of  Commons  was 
made  up  of  members  from  boroughs  and  counties,  and  five  repre¬ 
sentatives  from  the  universities  of  O.xford  and  Cambridge.  When 
the  system  was  devised,  the  bulk  of  the  population  was  in  the 
southern  counties,  and  these  now  had  about  as  many  representa¬ 
tives  as  the  far  more  thickly  populated  central  and  northern 
counties  put  together.  Nor  was  this  all :  the  borough  members 
in  particular  were  often  not  representative  of  the  people,  but  were 
nominees  of  the  nobility,  or  of  rich  landed  gentry,  or  of  the  gov¬ 
ernment  for  the  time  being.^ 

In  the  course  of  time  something  had  been  done ;  a  few  “  rot¬ 
ten  ”  boroughs  had  been  disfranchised,  and  laws  had  been  passed 
against  bribery  and  corruption,  but  that  was  all.  Still  other  evils 
existed ;  the  polls  were  kept  open  for  several  days,  in  one  case  for 
six  weeks,  and  the  voting  was  viva  voce,  a  system  which  encouraged 
bribery  and  corruption. 

The  condition  of  affairs  was  even  worse  in  Scotland  than  it  was 
in  England,  and  Ireland  was  little  if  any  better. 

619.  Struggle  in  Parliament.  1831-1832.  —  Reform  Unions 
had  been  established  all  over  the  country,  and  the  popular  demand 
for  the  reformation  of  Parliament  was  so  strong  that  the  Whig  min- 

•  These  boroughs  were  divided  into  ”  pocket  "  boroughs,  or  those,  as  it  were,  car¬ 
ried  in  the  pocket  of  the  great  landowner,  whose  tenants  voted  as  he  directed  them, 
and  "  rotten  "  boroughs,  or  those  where  there  were  so  few  voters  that  they  could 
not  really  be  considered  boroughs  at  all. 


482 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


istry,  which  had  assumed  office,  1830,  were  compelled  to  offer 
a  Reform  Bill.  The  first  reform  bill  was  brought  in  by  Lord 
John  RusselP  in  March,  1831.  It  failed  to  pass  the  House, 
but,  feeling  sure  of  their  position,  the  ministry  dissolved  Parlia¬ 
ment  and  ordered  a  new  election.  Notwithstanding  the  condition 
of  the  electorate,  a  large  majority  of  reformers  was  returned 
and  a  second  reform  bill  was  passed,  but  was  rejected  by  the 
House  of  Lords.  At  once  serious  riots  took  place* in  many 
parts  of  the  country,  which  so  influenced  the  Lords  that  they 
passed  a  third  reform  bill  to  its  second  reading  (May,  1832). 
The  Lords  now  tried  to  evade  the  issue  by  postponing  measures ; 
but  the  ministry  were  resolved  to  put  the  matter  through,  and 
called  upon  the  king  to  create  enough  peers  to  pass  the  bill,  as 
had  been  done  in  1711  in  the  reign  of  Anne  (§51 7).  The  king 
refused  and  the  ministry  resigned.  The  king  now  called  upon 
Wellington  to  form  a  Tory  ministry,  which  he  found  impossible 
to  do.  Earl  Grey  was  recalled,  and  the  king  gave  his  written 
promise  to  create,  if  needful,  enough  peers  to  pass  the  bill.^  On 
this,  rather  than  be  swamped  with  new  liberal  peers,  Wellington 
persuaded  enough  of  his  fellow-lords  to  absent  themselves  from 
the  House, ^  and  the  bill  was  passed  in  their  absence  by  a  majority 
of  eighty-four  (June  4,  1832)  and  received  the  royal  assent,  June 
7,  1832. 

620.  Importance  and  Results  of  Reform  Bill  of  1832.  —  The 
history  of  this  important  measure  explains  how  it  was  that  England 
escaped  the  terrible  revolutions  which  took  place  on  the  Conti¬ 
nent,  notwithstanding  her  people  were  profoundly  influenced  by 
them.  The  ruling  classes  on  the  Continent  believed  that  force 
was  the  only  way  to  end  popular  uprisings ;  but  the  use  of  armed 

1  He  was  at  this  time  only  an  Irish  peer,  and  so  was  able  to  sit  in  the  Commons. 

2  The  exact  wording  was,  “  The  King  grants  permission  to  Earl  Grey  and  his 
Chancellor,  Lord  Brougham,  to  create  such  numbers  of  Peers  as  will  be  sufficient 
to  insure*the  passing  of  the  Reform  Bill,  first  calling  up  Peers’  eldest  sons.  Signed 
William  R.  1832."  The  words  were  written  by  Lord  Brougham  (see  §  693,  1911). 

8  King  William  himself  sent  a  circular  letter  to  about  one  hundred  Tory  peers, 
asking  them  to  absent  themselves  from  the  House. 


REFORM  BILL  OF  1832 


483 


force  resulted,  as  it  almost  always  must  do,  in  the  use  of  more 
force.  In  England,  on  the  contrary,  the  rulers  resisted  up  to  a 
certain  point,  but  when  they  found  that  popular  sentiment  was 
determined,  at  last,  though  sometimes  late,  they  gave  way,  either 
to  complete  reform  or  to  a  compromise  which  would  be  accepted. 


George  Square,  Glasgow,  Scotland 

Showing  statues  of  John  Knox,  King  William  III,  the  Duke  of  Wellington, 
Queen  Victoria,  and  many  others 

Reform  bills  were  also  passed  for  Scotland  and  Ireland,  embody¬ 
ing  similar  principles.  The  great  result  of  the  Reform  Bill  was  to 
give  the  franchise  for  the  House  of  Commons  to  the  middle 
classes.  It  required  a  property  qualification  for  voters  and  made 
the  qualifications  uniform  throughout  the  kingdom,  it  established 
a  system  of  registration,  and  it  restricted  the  time  of  voting  to  two 
days.  It  increased  the  number  of  voters  fifty  per  cent.  There 
was  also  a  complete  redistribution  of  the  seats  of  members. 
“  Rotten  ”  and  “  pocket  ”  boroughs  were  done  away  with,  and 
the  seats  given  to  those  districts  which  had  been  without  repre¬ 
sentation,  while  other  boroughs  had  their  representation  reduced. 


484 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


In  this  way  the  populous  manufacturing  and  commercial  districts  of 
the  country  acquired  a  rightful  voice  in  legislation,  and  from  this 
time  public  opinion  had  a  direct  voice  in  the  affairs  of  the  nation 
as  it  had  never  had  before.  England  was  no  longer  ruled  exclu¬ 
sively  by  the  aristocratic  and  large  landholding  classes,  great  as 
their  influence  continued  to  be.  The  bill,  however,  to  modern 
eyes  was  a  very  moderate  measure,  for  though  it  enfranchised  the 
middle  classes,  it  did  nothing  directly  for  the  agricultural  or  in¬ 
dustrial  classes. 

The  new  Parliament  chosen  under  the  Reform  Bill  was  over¬ 
whelmingly  “  Liberal,”  by  which  name  the  reformers  began  to  be 
called.^ 

Parliament  met  in  1833  and  immediately  took  up  the  question 
of  reform  in  other  directions.  In  the  same  year  (1833)  was  passed 
the  Emancipation  Act,  which  liberated  all  slaves  in  the  British 
dominions,  and  granted  the  owners  of  them  ^20,000,000  com¬ 
pensation.  The  act  was  to  come  into  full  force  in  1838,  at  which 
time  about  800,000  slaves  were  set  free.^ 

In  1834  a  new  Poor  Law  was  passed,  remedying  in  many  ways 
the  antiquated  and  injurious  legislation  in  force.  Still  another  act 
was  passed  (1833)  to  check  the  evil  arising  from  the  employment 
of  children  in  factories  and  mills.  This  act,  while  falling  very  far 
short  of  full  relief,  was  a  step  in  the  right  direction  and  did  much 
to  check  overwork.® 

'  The  majority  was  composed  of  many  elements,  and  the  actual  working  majority 
is  difficult  to  estimate.  The  Liberal  members  have  been  taken  at  486,  the  Tory  at 
172;  this  would  nominally  give  the  Liberals  a  majority  of  314.  the  largest  any  gov¬ 
ernment  has  had  in  English  history,  until  that  of  the  Liberals  in  1906,  which  was 

358. 

^  Large  as  was  the  compensation  and  careful  as  were  the  provisions  of  the  act,  the 
owners  probably  did  not  receive  as  much  as  half  their  immediate  and  entailed  loss. 

2  In  1800  children  of  seven  years  old  and  upward  were  often  compelled  to  work 
twelve  or  fourteen  hours  a  day.  Only  by  persistent  effort  had  the  limit  been  re¬ 
duced  in  1816  to  twelve  hours.  The  opposition  had  been  mainly  in  the  House  of 
Lords.  La^ter  also,  through  the  efforts  of  Ashley,  afterwards  known  as  Lord 
Shaftesbury,  a  commission  was  appointed  to  investigate  the  condition  of  women 
and  children  employed  in  the  coal  mines.  A  horrible  state  of  affairs  was  re¬ 
vealed,  which  led  to  stringent  restrictive  legislation. 


THE  POOR  LAWS  AND  LABOR 


4^5 


621.  Strikes  and  Trade-unions;  Irish  Affairs.  1833. — The 
country  was  greatly  disturbed  by  strikes  and  the  demonstra¬ 
tions  of  the  trade-unions,  but,  as  so  often,  Irish  affairs  claimed  the 
closer  attention  of  the  government.  The  chief  Irish  grievance 
was  the  fact  tiiat  every  one  had  to  give  tithes  for  the  support  of  the 
Church  of  England,  which  by  law  was  the  established  church  of 
Ireland,  though  less  than  one  fourteenth  of  the  population  of  Ire¬ 
land  at  that  time  were  Protestants.  The  payment  of  tithes  was  often 
refused,  and  collectors  were  not  unfrequently  seriously  maltreated 
and  sometimes  even  murdered.  A  coercion  act  was  passed 
in  Parliament  and  the  trouble  was  sternly  and  severely  put 
down. 

622.  More  Reforms  ;  Reaction  ;  Change  of  Ministry.  1834-1835. 
— Another  important  act  (1833)  was  that  ending  the  monopoly  of  the 
East  India  Company  and  throwing  open  the  commerce  of  China 
to  all.*  Still  another  act  introduced  desirable  changes  in  certain 
law  courts.  All  these,  and  other  measures,  were  accomplished  by 
the  Reform  Parliament;  but,  as  usual  after  radical  changes  of 
party  and  in  legislation,  there  came  a  period  of  reaction.  No  re¬ 
form  can  be  set  on  foot  and  accomplished  without  injuring  some 
one,  and  often  a  larger  number  than  is  expected.  Again  radical 
reformers  are  always  irritated  because  reforms  are  not  carried  far¬ 
ther.  So  before  a  year  elapsed  the  power  of  the  great  majority 
began  to  grow  less,  and  even  in  the  government  itself  serious  dif¬ 
ferences  of  opinion  manifested  themselves. 

In  1834  after  several  changes  in  the  ministry  Sir  Robert  Peel 
again  came  into  office.  Among  the  members  of  his  administra¬ 
tion  was  a  young  man  of  twenty-five  who  had  entered  the  Reform 
Parliament  as  a  Tory,  William  Ewart  Gladstone,  who  thus  early 
took  a  prominent  place  in  that  body  of  which  he  was  to  become 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  members.* 

'  Trade  with  India  had  been  made  free  in  1813. 

2  Gladstone  was  elected  for  Newark  in  1832,  and  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
months  in  1846,  remained  a  member  till  his  death  in  1898. 


486 


HISTORY  01'  ENGLAND 


623.  Municipal  Corporations  Act,  1835 ;  Death  of  William. 
1837.  —  An  important  measure  of  reform  passed  in  1835  was  the 
Municipal  Corporations  Act  (1835).  The  mayors  and  town  coun¬ 
cils  of  towns  and  cities  in  England  had  been  chosen  in  a  great 
variety  of  ways,  but  generally  the  members  were  self-elected  and 


Guildhall,  the  Council  Hall  of  London 
Founded  in  1411 ;  restored  after  the  fire  of  1666 


often  sat  for  life.  A  commission  appointed  to  investigate  the 
matter  had  revealed  a  vast  amount  of  corruption,  showing  that 
conditions  were  quite  as  bad  as  had  been  the  case  in  the  old 
parliamentary  boroughs.  A  new  bill  required  that  all  municipal 
corporations  should  be  chosen  in  accordance  with  a  uniform  law 
which  made  them  representative  bodies.’ 

King  William  IV  died  on  June  20,  1837,  seventy-two  years  old. 
He  had  made  a  fairly  successful  ruler  and  deserves  more  credit 

1  By  the  new  act  the  governing  body  was  a  town  council  consisting  of  a  mayor, 
aldermen,  and  councilors.  The  ratepayers  (taxpayers)  elected  the  councilors, 
who  from  their  own  number  chose  the  aldermen  and  the  mayor. 


DEATH  OF  WILLIAM  IV 


487 


than  he  usually  gets  for  his  support  of  the  reform  movements. 
The  seven  years  of  his  reign  were  more  fruitful  in  reforms  than 
all  the  sixty  years  during  which  George  III  occupied  the  throne 
of  England.^ 

References.  —  Gardiner,  Student's  History,  chaps.  Iv-lvii,  §  9;  Terry, 
History,  Part  IV,  chap,  vii,  pp.  976-999;  Tout,  Advanced  History,  Book 
VIII,  chaps,  i-ii;  Traill,  Social  England,  vo\.N\,  chap,  xxi;  Adams  and  Ste¬ 
phens,  Select  Documents,  §§  260-265;  Cheyney,  Readings,  chap,  xix,  §§  i-iv; 
Colby,  Selections,  §§  113-117;  Kendall,  Source-Book,  §§  128-130,  139;  Lee, 
Source-Book,  §§  209-220. 

I  The  chief  of  these  reforms,  which,  however,  in  part  belong  to  the  reign  of 
George  IV,  deserve  to  be  summarized:  Corporation  Act  (1661)  and  Test  Act 
(1673)  repealed  (1828)  ;  Catholic  Relief  Act  (1829) ;  Parliamentary  Reform  Act 
(1832) ;  Municipal  Reform  Act  for  Scotland  (1833),  and  for  England  (1835) ;  Aboli¬ 
tion  of  Slavery  11833)  ;  Regulation  of  Work  of  Women  and  Children  in  Factories 
(1833)  ;  New  Poor  Law  (1834)  ;  Reformation  of  Criminal  Code  (1820)  ;  Reformation 
of  Currency  (1823)  ;  Grant  for  Public  Education  for  Ireland  (1831) ,  and  for  England 
(1833) ;  Stamp  Duty  on  Newspapers  greatly  reduced  (1836)  ;  several  acts  remov¬ 
ing  restrictions  on  labor. 


The  Mansion  House,  Residence  of  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 


ERA  OF  REFORM  AND  GROWTH  OF  COLONIAL  EMPIRE 

624.  Victoria.  1837.  —  As  King  William  and  Queen  Adelaide 
left  no  children,  the  crown  descended  to  the  young  daughter  of 
Edward,  Duke  of  Kent,  the  fourth  son  of  George  III.  Her  father, 
who  married  late  in  life,  had  died  in  1820.  Victoria  was  his  only 
child.  Born  on  May  24,  1810,  she  was  just  eighteen.  She  had  been 
carefully  brought  up  by  her  mother  in  great  privacy.^  What  is 
known  as  the  Salic  law,  which  excludes  women  from  a  throne,  pre¬ 
vailed  in  Hanover,  hence  that  monarchy  was  separated  from  the 
British  crown,  and  the  next  surviving  son  of  George  HI,  Ernest, 
Duke  of  Cumberland,  succeeded  to  the  rule  of  Hanover.  It  was 
a  most  fortunate  circumstance  for  England  thus  without  friction 
to  be  set  free  from  what  might  at  any  time  cause  dangerous  en¬ 
tanglement  with  continental  affairs.* 

625.  Transition  Period;  Marriage  of  Victoria.  1840.  —  The 
reign  of  Victoria,  the  longest  in  British  annals,  is  also  one  of  the  most 
remarkable.  It  was  a  time  of  transition  from  the  rule  of  aristocracy 
to  that  of  democracy,  a  time  of  experiment  in  almost  every  field 
of  human  interest,  a  period  of  unexampled  advance  in  material 
invention  and  material  prosperity.  During  this  reign  England  be¬ 
came  truly  a  constitutional  monarchy  —  that  is,  a  monarchy  in 
which  the  people  rule,  and  in  which  the  monarch  exercises  a  re¬ 
straining  or  regulating  influence  rather  than  a  controlling  one. 

Up  to  the  reign  of  Victoria  the  monarch  claimed  the  right  to 

>  Sir  Walter  Scott,  who  dined  with  the  Duchess  of  Kent  in  May,  1828,  afterwards 
wrote  in  his  diary,  "  This  little  lady  is  educated  with  much  care  and  watched  so 
closely  that  no  busy  maid  has  a  moment  to  whisper,  ‘You  are  heir  of  England.’" 

2  It ‘was  also  fortunate  for  England  that  she  had  no  Salic  law,  because  the  Duke 
of  Cumberland,  the  heir  next  to  Victoria,  was  highly  unpopular,  and  almost  without 
doubt  would  have  made  a  bad  king.  Hanover  became  part  of  Prussia  in  1866. 

488 


ACCESSION  OF  QUEEN  VICTORIA 


489 


choose  and  to  dismiss  the  prime  minister,  and  to  influence  the 
choice  of  his  cabinet.  Early  in  her  reign  Victoria  yielded  this 
claim  and  thenceforward  selected  as  prime  minister  the  man  who 
could  command  a  majority  in  the  House  of  Commons.  The 
prime  minister  selects  his  cabinet,  all  the  members  of  which  are 
from  the  party  controlling  the  Commons.  If  the  ministry  loses 
the  majority  in  the  Commons,  then  the  whole  cabinet  resigns. 
The  prime  minister  stands  at  the  head  of  the  ministry  or  cabinet, 
which  within  constitutional  limits  governs  the  kingdom.  The  in¬ 
fluence  of  the  sovereign,  however,  remains  great.  Victoria  insisted 
that  she  should  be  informed  of  what  was  going  on,  and  that  after 
any  measure  had  received  the  royal  sanction  it  should  not  be 
altered  or  modified  without  her  consent.  All  these  precedents 
were  not  adopted  at  once,  but  grew  up  during  her  reign. 

In  1840  the  queen  married  her  first  cousin,  Albert,  Prince  of 
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.  To  his  wise,  unselfish  counsel,  and  generally 
tactful  bearing  the  queen  owed  much  of  her  success.  He  was 
created  Prince  Consort  in  1857.*  Until  his  death  in  1861  he  ex¬ 
ercised  a  great  though  quiet  influence  in  public  matters,  especially 
in  foreign  affairs.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  though  it  was  unofficial, 
“  Prince  Albert’s  position  gave  him  as  good  a  right  as  the  queen 
to  be  regarded  as  the  ruler  of  the  British  realm.” 

From  the  very  first  the  young  queen  showed  remarkable  self- 
possession,  tact,  prudence,  good' judgment,  and  a  very  strong 
sense  of  the  seriousness  and  responsibility  of  her  position. 

626.  General  Conditions  at  the  Accession  of  Victoria.  1837. — 
According  to  the  custom  prevailing  at  that  period.  Parliament  had 
been  dissolved  at  the  accession  of  the  new  monarch,  and  a  new 
one  elected.  The  Whigs  retained  the  majority,  but  the  Tories,^  or, 

'  He  was  strictly  speaking,  Duke  of  Saxony,  Prince  of  Coburg  and  Gotha.  The 
family  name  of  the  Georges  was  Guelph  ;  that  of  Prince  Albert  was  VVettin,  which 
is  now  the  surname  of  the  English  royal  family. 

2  The  term  Conservative  had  been  used  since  about  1824,  but  sparingly.  The 
term  Tory  did  not  wholly  go  out  of  use,  and  many  Liberals  even  yet  like  to  call  their 
Conservative  opponents  "  Tories.” 


490 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


as  they  now  began  to  call  themselves,  the  “  Conservatives,”  had 
increased  their  numbers. 

The  condition  of  political  and  social  affairs  at  the  accession  of 
Victoria  was  by  no  means  satisfactory.  The  Irish,  under  the  lead 
of  Daniel  O’Connell,  were  demanding  the  repeal  of  the  Act  of 
Union  (§§  590,  591).  As  the  votes  of  the  Irish  members  of  Parlia¬ 
ment  were  valuable  to  the  ministry,  an  effort  was  made  at  concili¬ 
ation  in  the  passage  of  a  better  Poor  Law,  and  by  an  Irish  Tithe 
Act  which  changed  the  tithe  of  the  produce  of  the  land,  which 
was  the  tax  for  the  support  of  the  Established  Church,  into  a 
permanent  rent  charge  in  money,  payable  by  the  landlords  (1838).^ 

There  was  serious  trouble  in  India ;  and  in  Jamaica,  resulting 
from  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves  ;  and  there  was  actual  rebellion 
in  Canada. 

627.  Canada.  i839-i84t.  —  Canada,  in  accordance  with  a  plan 
devised  by  Pitt,-  had  been  divided  into  two  independent  provinces. 
Upper  and  Lower  Canada.  Upper  Canada  was  almost  wholly 
peopled  by  British  colonists,  while  Lower  Canada  was  almost  ex¬ 
clusively  French.  The  system  of  rule  which  had  been  adopted 
opened  the  way  for  bad  government.  In  Lower  Canada  the  French 
disliked  extremely  the  ways  and  actions  of  the  British  settlers  who 
came  among  them.  In  each  province  there  were  grievances 
needing  redress,  chiefly  that  the  legislative  assemblies  had  no  real 
power. 

Lord  Durham,  one  of  the  ablest  men  in  the  Liberal  party,  was 
sent  out  to  settle  matters.  Lord  Durham,  however,  was  not  a 
skilful  administrator,  and  when  the  ministry  rejected  one  of  his 
ordinances  he  resigned.  But  though  he  was  unsuccessful  in 
administration,  his  report  on  the  condition  of  Canada  was  so 
clear  and  convincing  that  many  of  his  ideas  were  embodied  in 
the  new  scheme  of  government  adopted  for  Canada.  By  this  the 

*  A  somewhat  similar  bill  for  England  had  been  passed  in  1836.  An  Irish  Tithe 
Act  passed  in  1835,  and  another  in  1836,  had  been  rejected  by  the  House  of 
Lords.  2  Adopted  in  1791. 


CHARTISM 


491 


two  colonies  were  united  under  one  government  with  a  legislative 
assembly  having  some  control  over  the  executive  (1839-1841)  ; 
so  that  in  local  matters  the  colonies  had  practically  self- 
governmentd 

628.  Chartism. — The  country  had  not  yet  adjusted  itself  to 
the  new  conditions  brought  about  by  the  Industrial  Revolution 
(§  566).  The 
upper  classes  held 
firmly  to  the  prin¬ 
ciple  of  protection, 
and  in  consequence 
of  the  laws  restrict¬ 
ing  the  importation 
of  grain,  bread  was 
so  costly  that  thou¬ 
sands  were  unable 
to  buy  it.  Wages 
were  low,  and  there 
was  still  among  the 
working  classes 
widespread  opposi¬ 
tion  to  the  extended 
use  of  machinery 
and  labor-saving  Queen  Victoria  in  1877 

devices.  Seldom,  if 

ever,  had  the  English  working  classes  been  in  a  more  deplorable 
condition. 

Many  remedies  were  proposed  for  this  state  of  affiiirs.  The 
most  attractive  to  the  working  classes  was  Chartism.  This  name 
was  taken  from  a  document  known  as  the  “  People’s  Charter,” 
which  was  drawn  up  to  set  forth  the  rights  and  embody  the 
demands  of  these  classes. 


’  This  form  of  government  lasted  with  but  little  alteration  until  superseded  by  the 
Dominion  of  Canada  in  1867. 


492 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


The  six  chief  points  of  the  Charter  were  (i)  universal  manhood 
suffrage;  (2)  vote  by  ballot ;  (3)  annual  Parliaments ;  (4)  aboli¬ 
tion  of  property  qualification  for  a  seat  in  Parliament ;  (5)  pay¬ 
ment  of  members  of  Parliament ;  (6)  equal  electoral  districts. 

In  the  great  Reform  Bill  of  1832  no  attention  had  been  paid 
to  the  interests  of  the  working  man,  and  the  “  People’s  Charter  ” 
aimed  to  remedy  this  evil.  Public  meetings  were  held,  news¬ 
papers  and  pamphlets  published,  and  later,  petitions  presented 
to  Parliament.  One  of  these  in  1839  was  said  to  have  more  than 
a  million  names  signed  to  it,  but  Parliament  refused  even  to 
consider  it.  When  this  was  known  there  was  rioting  in  a  number 
of  places.  Everywhere  the  movement  was  met  with  strong  re¬ 
pressive  measures,  neither  the  government  nor  Parliament  either 
sympathizing  with  the  people  or  apparently  understanding  the 
real  issues  involved.  The  movement  was  repressed,  but  not 
crushed,  as  was  shown  later.  Most  of  the  demands  of  the  Chart¬ 
ists  have  been  peacefully  granted,  though  it  has  taken  many  years 
to  accomplish  it. 

629.  Anti-corn  Law  League.  1838.  —  Still  another  movement  of 
important  results  was  the  .‘\nti -corn- Law  League.  This  also  was 
aimed  at  bettering  the  condition  of  the  working  classes,  but  in 
a  way  which  would  enlist  the  sympathies  of  the  middle  classes  as 
well.  It  was  set  on  foot  by  political  economists  and  practical 
business  men  of  great  ability.  Begun  at  Manchester,  its  leaders 
were  Richard  Cobden,  a  manufacturer,  of  liberal  views  and  wide 
and  accurate  information,  John  Bright,  a  Quaker,  a  manufacturer 
and  an  orator  of  the  highest  class,  and  Charles  Villiers,  a  member 
of  Parliament.  These  men  claimed  that  the  high  price  of  corn^ 
not  only  injured  the  working  classes  but  was  also  detrimental  to 
trade.  It  was,  therefore,  the  interest  of  the  community  that  there 
should  be  free  trade,  especially  in  corn,  and  that  to  “  buy  in  the 
cheapest  market  and  sell  in  the  dearest  ”  was  in  accord  with 
true  economic  principles.  By  means  of  public  meetings,  circula- 
'  Corn  is  in  England  the  general  name  for  grain,  particularly  of  wheat. 


CORN  LAWS  AND  PENNY  POSTAGE  493 

tion  of  pamphlets,  and  speeches  in  and  out  of  Parliament,  the 
supporters  kept  the  matter  before  the  public. 

630.  Penny  Postage.  1839-1840.  —  In  1839,  in  response  to 
a  strong  popular  demand,  the  postal  system  was  reformed,  and 
cheap  postage,  in  accord  with  a  plan  proposed  in  1837  by  Rowland 
Hill,  was  adopted.  Heretofore  letters  had  been  carried  at  a  rate 
varying  according  to  the  number  of  sheets  in  a  letter,  the  distance 
to  be  carried,  and  the  means  of  carriage.  The  rates  charged  were 
high,  and  the  result  was  that  comparatively  few  letters  were  sent. 
By  the  new  system  a  uniform  and  low  rate  was  charged  for  letters, 
the  charge  varying  only  with  the  weight,  one  half  ounce  being 
adopted  as  the  unit ;  and  the  franking  privileges  of  the  members 
of  Parliament  were  abolished.  The  plan  was  stoutly  opposed  in 
Parliament,  but  the  bill  was  passed.  At  first  there  was  a  serious 
loss  in  revenue,  but  very  soon  the  advantages  of  the  system  were 
recognized,  and  the  number  of  letters  sent  became  so  large  that 
the  post  office  became  a  source  of  revenue  instead  of  a  loss  as 
it  had  been.  Postage  stamps  were  introduced  in  1840.' 

631.  Foreign  Affairs.  1839-1840.  —  Lord  Palmerston,  the 
foreign  minister,  managed  to  bring  on  a  quarrel  with  France  which 
nearly  caused  a  war  with  that  nation  concerning  Egypt,  because 
Louis  Philippe  had  encouraged  its  pasha  to  seize  Syria  from  Turkey. 
Alarmed  at  the  prospect  of  French  influence  in  Egypt,  Palmerston 
formed  an  alliance  with  Austria,  Prussia,  and  Russia  which  brought 
this  plan  to  an  end,  and  handed  Syria  over  to  Turkey.  Palmer¬ 
ston  cherished  the  belief  that  Turkey  would  reform  her  govern¬ 
ment —  a  vain  delusion,  as  subsequent  events  showed.  The  real 
object,  however,  of  Palmerston,  which  he  steadily  pursued  for 
many  years  to  come,  was  to  prevent  the  advance  of  Russia,  and 
her  control  and  probable  acquisition  of  the  whole  or  a  large  part 
of  the  Turkish  Empire  —  a  policy  which  led  to  the  support  of  the 
half-civilized  Ottoman  Empire  by  the  western  nations  in  order  to 

'  The  rate  under  this  new  system  was  at  first  four  pence  per  half  ounce,  which 
was,  on  and  after  January  10,  1840,  to  be  reduced  to  one  penny. 


494 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


maintain  the  balance  of  power  in  Europe  ;  which  brought  on  the 
Crimean  War;  and  which  preserved  the  Ottoman  rule  in  Europe. 
Shrewdly  relying  on  the  selfish  attitude  of  the  great  powers, 
every  Turkish  sultan  maintained  a  system  of  misgovernment 
which  was  a  disgrace  to  modern  times. 

632.  Chinese  Policy;  Opium  Trade.  1839-1842.  —  Another 
small  war,  not  creditable  to  England,  was  that  with  China.  China 
pursued  the  policy  of  exclusion  from  the  outside  world,  and  re¬ 
sisted  every  attempt  to  extend  the  trade  with  western  nations. 
Mistaken  as  this  policy  seems,  it  was  one  she  had  a  right  to  follow. 
A  trade  had  sprung  up  with  the  port  of  Canton,  though  foreign 
vessels  were  not  allowed  to  come  to  the  city  itself.  Up  to  1834 
the  trade  had  been  confined  to  the  East  India  Company,  but  when 
their  monopoly  ceased  (§  622),  it  was  open  to  all  comers.  One 
result  of  this  was  a  vast  increase  in  the  smuggling  of  opium,  a 
drug  much  used  by  the  Chinese  in  smoking  for  its  narcotic  effect. 
The  evil  effects  of  such  practice  were  well  known  to  the  Chinese 
government,  and  the  importing  of  opium  was  rigidly  prohibited. 
The  Chinese,  finding  it  was  almost  impossible  to  shut  out  the 
noxious  drug,  closed  all  trade  with  England.  The  English  super¬ 
intendent  resented  this,  and  by  arms  forced  a  renewal  of  trade 
privileges.  Matters,  however,  went  on  from  bad  to  worse  until 
actual  war  with  China  resulted. 

633.  Chinese  War,  1839. — The  Chinese  were  worsted,  and 
compelled  to  make  peace  (1842).  Five  ports  were  opened  to 
British  trade ;  and  a  large  sum  was  paid  for  British  opium 
destroyed  by  the  Chinese  during  the  troubles ;  a  heavy  indem¬ 
nity  was  paid  to  the  British ;  and  the  island  of  Hong  Kong 
was  ceded  to  them.  The  Chinese,  however,  refused  to  legalize 
the  opium  traffic  in  spite  of  the  most  persistent  efforts  of  the 
British.  But  the  Chinese,  after  their  experience  with  the  British 
arms,  were  afraid  to  enforce  their  laws,  and  so  the  trade  increased  ; 
and  as  it  was  a  government  monopoly  in  India,  and  the  source  of 
large  revenue,  the  British  authorities  in  India  not  only  made  no 


TARIFF  REFORMS  OF  PEEL 


495 


efforts  to  stop  the  trade,  but  were  accustomed  to  defend  it  on 
the  ground  of  the  revenue  it  produced.  So  this  iniquitous 
traffic  has  continued  until  the  present  time.  So  clearly  was  the 
real  cause  of  the  war  understood  that  it  has  always  been  called 
the  “  Opium  War.”  ^ 

634.  Peel’s  Ministry.  1841.  —  Sir  Robert  Peel  became  prime 
minister  a  second  time  in  1841  and  proved  himself  to  be  one  of 
England’s  greatest  statesmen.  He  was  an  able  politician  and 
parliamentary  leader ;  he  was,  like  Pitt,  the  soul  of  the  cabinet, 
and  he  had  above  all  the  rare  characteristic  of  acting  in  accord¬ 
ance  with  his  personal  convictions  whether  they  were  in  accord 
with  his  party  or  not. 

In  his  cabinet  were  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  without  an  office. 
Lord  Aberdeen,  P'oreign  Minister,  and,  though  not  at  first  in  the 
cabinet,  yet  one  of  the  junior  officers,  William  E.  Gladstone. 
The  failure  of  the  Whig  movement  had  been  in  financial  and 
economic  measures  ;  to  these,  from  the  character  of  the  times 
and  the  widespread  distress.  Peel  was  bound  to  give  his  careful 
attention. 

635.  Tariff  Reforms  of  Peel.  1842.  —  Peel  proposed  that  the 
duty  on  foreign  corn  (wheat)  should  vary  as  the  price  of  home¬ 
grown  wheat  varied.  If  the  price  should  decline  the  duty  should 
increase,  and  should  fall  as  the  price  rose.  In  order  to  offset  a 
reduction  in  duties  on  imports,  he  proposed  an  income  tax  and 
the  abolition  of  export  duties.^ 

After  considerable  opposition  from  the  Conservatives,  because 
they  thought  he  was  granting  too  much,  and  from  the  radical 
Free  Traders,  because  he  was  not  granting  enough.  Peel’s  measures 
passed  Parliament  (1842).  The  cause  of  the  Anti-corn  League 

■  No  English  government  had  the  courage  to  put  an  end  to  this  trade  until 
the  Liberal  administration  took  the  matter  up  seriously  (1908).  By  an  agreement 
with  China  the  amount  of  opium  exported  from  India  to  China  will  be  gradually 
diminished.  In  ign  a  new  agreement  provides  that  the  export  from  India  shall 
close  in  less  than  seven  years,  if  no  opium  is  produced  in  China. 

2  He  reduced  the  duties  on  about  750  articles,  leaving  about  450  untouched. 


496 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


had  been  greatly  strengthened  by  the  advent  of  Richard  Cobden 
into  Parliament  (1841)  and  also  of  John  Bright  (1844)  (§629), 
but  circumstances,  even  more  than  perseverance  and  eloquence, 
worked  for  the  cause. 

636.  Failure  of  Irish  Potato  Crop,  1845  ;  Reduction  of  Corn 
Duties,  1846.  —  A  blight  fell  on  the  potato  crop  in  Ireland  in 
1845,  resulting  in  a  very  short  crop  which,  as  potatoes  formed 
the  chief  food  of  the  people,  brought  on  a  famine  and  widespread 
disease. 

The  undoubted  success  of  the  new  tariff  laws  had  led  Peel  to 
modify  his  views  on  tariff  questions,  and  when  famine  came  upon 
the  Irish  he  felt  that  foreign  wheat  must  be  brought  in  to  help 
them.  This  could  not  be  done  without  altering  the  laws,  but  if 
the  laws  were  repealed,  it  was  not  likely  that  they  could  be  re¬ 
enacted.  Peel  advocated  their  repeal,  but  as  a  large  portion  of 
his  cabinet  refused  to  support  him,  he  resigned.  The  queen  asked 
Lord  John  Russell  to  form  a  ministry,  but  he  was  unable  to  do  so, 
and  Peel  came  back.  He  now  proposed  to  make  a  heavy  reduc- 
'  tion  in  the  duties  on  corn  and  in  three  years  to  lower  them  to  a 
nominal  amount.  This  action  divided  the  Conservatives,  and  Peel 
was  forced  to  depend  on  the  Whigs  to  carry  his  measure.  He 
generously  ascribed  the  credit  of  the  Repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws,  as 
the  measure  is  called,  to  Cobden  and  his  associates^  (1846). 

637.  Irish  Coercion  Act ;  Peel  Resigns.  1846.  —  Owing  to  the 
great  number  of  disorders  in  Ireland,  Peel  felt  it  needful  to  ask 
for  a  coercion  act.  The  Whigs,  the  radical  Conservatives  and  Pro¬ 
tectionists  voted  against  the  bill  and  it  so  happened  that  on  the 
same  night  on  which  the  Lords  passed  the  repeal  of  the  Corn 
Laws,  Peel  was  defeated  in  the  House  of  Commons.  He  at  once 
placed  his  resignation  in  the  hands  of  the  queen.^ 

1  The  duty  was  reduced  to  4  shillings  per  quarter  (480  pounds)  till  1849,  when  it 
was  to  become  one  shilling.  This  was  abolished  by  Gladstone  in  1869,  and  corn 
was  admitted  free  of  any  duty. 

2  Peel  never  again  held  office,  but  he  continued  to  exercise  a  great  influence. 
He  died  from  the  effects  of  a  fall  from  his  horse,  July  2,  1850. 


IRISH  AND  AMERICAN  AFFAIRS 


497 


638.  Settlement  of  Boundary  Disputes  in  America,  1842; 
Bank  Act,  1844.  —  Meantime  the  conciliatory  policy  of  Aber¬ 
deen,  the  foreign  minister,  had  arranged  the  long-standing  diffi¬ 
culty  with  the  United  States  in  regard  to  the  northeast  boundary 
between  the  British  possessions  and  the  United  States,  and  later 
effected  an  adjustment  of  the  northwestern  boundary  also.^ 

Among  other  measures  of  importance  passed  by  the  Peel  ad¬ 
ministration  was  the  Bank  Act  of  1844,  which  revised  the  charter 
of  the  Bank  of  England  and  forbade  any  bank  formed  after  the 
passage  of  the  act  to  issue  paper  currency.  The  Bank  of  England 
has  been  carried  on  under  this  charter  to  the  present  day.^ 

639.  Lord  John  Russell’s  Ministry,  1846-1852;  Irish  Affairs. 
—  Lord  John  Russell,  who  had  done  good  service  in  the  Re¬ 
form  movement  (§  619)  became  prime  minister  in  1846.  The 
first  question  to  be  handled  was  that  of  Ireland.  The  potato 
crop,  bad  in  1845,  a  failure  in  1846,  and  terrible  distress  and 
famine  took  place.  Modifications  of  the  Poor  Laws  were  made 
and  relief  extended  —  but  not  sufficient.  Private  benevolence 
stepped  in  and  much  was  done  to  help  the  suffering.  The  popu¬ 
lar  remedy  for  the  Irish  was  emigration,  and  thousands  left  for 
America,  many  to  perish  on  shipboard  from  disease,  the  result 
of  starvation  and  unsanitary  conditions.  Between  death  and  emi¬ 
gration  the  population  of  Ireland  declined  nearly  two  millions. 
Such  distress  naturally  bred  discontent  and  finally  rebellion,  and 
the  Liberal  government  felt  forced  to  bring  in  a  coercion  bill 
almost  identical  with  that  of  Peel.  Had  Russell’s  full  plan  been 
carried  out,  some  evils  might  have  been  remedied ;  as  it  was,  the 
legislation  probably  did  more  harm  than  good.  Again  England 
had  missed  a  chance  of  settling  affiiirs  in  Ireland  on  a  fairly  just 

'  The  settlement  of  the  northeastern  boundary  question  in  1842  was  a  fair  com¬ 
promise  of  the  conflicting  claims.  Lack  of  accurate  knowledge  prevented  a  final 
settlement  of  the  Oregon  question  until  1872. 

2  More  than  once  in  times  of  financial  crisis  the  charter  has  been  suspended  for 
a  short  period,  but  on  the  whole  the  workings  of  the  act  have  been  remarkably 
successful. 


498 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


basis,  and,  as  has  been  generally  the  case,  the  fault  chiefly  lay 
with  the  great  landholders  in  the  House  of  Lords. 

640.  Revolutions  and  Social  Discontent.  1848-1849.  —  Like 
1830  the  year  1848  was  a  year  of  European  revolutions.  Louis 
Philippe  was  driven  from  the  French  throne,  and  in  nearly  every 
state  on  the  Continent  there  were  revolutions  more  or  less  serious. 
Everywhere  there  was  the  demand  for  constitutional  government. 
The  small  states,  overturned  or  absorbed  by  larger  ones  as  a  result 
of  the  Napoleonic  wars,  had  been  restored  by  the  Congress  of 
Vienna  (1814-1815),  and  now  the  people  were  restive  under 
petty  exactions  and  arbitrary  boundaries.  No  crowned  head  in 
Europe  rested  easily  during  1848,  and  nearly  every  monarch  had 
to  make  some  concessions. 

The  effect  on  the  people  of  the  British  Islands  was  not  slight. 
In  Ireland  there  was  an  attempt  at  rebellion,  which  was  soon  put 
down.  In  England  there  was  a  renewal  of  the  Chartist  movement 
(§  628).  A  great  meeting  was  called  on  Kennington  Common, 
London,  and  a  monster  petition,  intended  to  be  presented  to 
Parliament,  was  begun.  The  government  took  active  measures 
and  it  is  said  that  1 70,000  special  policemen  were  sworn  in  to  pre¬ 
vent  violence.  The  meeting,  however,  was  a  failure.  Numerous 
as  the  Chartists  were  in  England,  the  great  majority  of  them  were 
opposed  to  the  use  of  force,  and  so  the  danger  passed. 

In  1851  Louis  Napoleon,  who  had  been  elected  (1848)  Presi¬ 
dent  of  the  French  Republic,  by  a  coup  d'etat,  as  it  was  called, 
overthrew  the  republic,  and  in  1832  proclaimed  himself  Emperor. 
This  was  afterwards  confirmed  by  a  large  popular  vote.^ 

641.  Exhibition  of  1851  ;  Earl  of  Derby  Prime  Minister, 
1852  ;  Disraeli.  —  In  1851  the  first  great  international  exhibition 
was  held  in  London.  It  owed  its  origin,  and  also,  to  a  very  great 
extent,  its  success,  to  Prince  Albert.  It  certainly  tended  to  bring 
about  better  feelings  between  the  different  nations  of  the  earth ; 

*  Louis  Napoleon  was  the  son  of  Napoleon’s  younger  brother,  Louis,  and  Hor- 
tense,  daughter  of  the  Empress  Josephine. 


REVOLUTIONS  AND  SOCIAL  DISCONTENT 


499 


and,  more  than  this,  it  showed  to  the  whole  world  what  was  being 
done  for  the  advance  of  civilization,  and  it  stimulated  many  nations 
to  greater  efforts  to  better  their  condition. 

Lord  John  Russell’s  ministry  resigned  in  1852,  and  the  Earl  of 
Derby,  a  protectionist,  was  called  upon  to  form  a  government. 
Among  those  who  now 
came  into  office  for 
the  first  time  was 
Benjamin  Disraeli, 
later  one  of  the  best- 
known  names  in  Eng¬ 
lish  history  of  the  nine¬ 
teenth  century.  Of 
Jewish  descent,  a 
novelist  of  some  repu¬ 
tation,  he  had  only 
after  failure  succeeded 
in  making  for  himself 
a  place  in  the  Com¬ 
mons.  He  had  bril¬ 
liant  talents,  bound¬ 
less  ambition,  and 
audacity  ;  he  was  a 
skilled  debater  and  keen  antagonist ;  he  knew  little  of  finance  or 
political  economy,  and  had  been  a  strong  protectionist  from 
policy.  He  recognized,  however,  that  free  trade  had  come  to 
stay,  and  in  bringing  forward  his  budget,  for  he  was  made  chan¬ 
cellor  of  the  exchequer,  to  the  surprise  of  friend  and  foe,  he 
took  his  stand  as  a  free  trader.  An  election  took  place  and 
in  the  new  House  a  group  of  men  who  held  the  views  of  Peel, 
and  hence  called  “  Peelites,”  held  the  balance  of  power. 

642.  Coalition  Ministry,  1852;  War  with  Russia,  1854.  —  As 
the  ministry  was  in  a  minority  it  soon  fell,  and  was  followed  by 
a  “  coalition  ”  ministry  of  “  Peelites  ”  and  Whigs.  Lord  Aberdeen 


Benjamin  Disraeli 
Earl  of  Beaconsfield 


500 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


became  prime  minister,  Gladstone,  chancellor  of  the  exchequer, 
John  Russell,  foreign  minister,  and  Palmerston,  home  secretary. 

The  new  ministry  soon  had  an  important  question  to  handle. 
In  1850  a  very  trifling  circumstance  occurred  in  Palestine  which 
began  a  conflict  leading  to  grave  results  lasting  down  to  the 
present.  This  was  a  dispute  between  the  Roman  Catholic  and 
Greek  priests  regarding  the  guardianship  of  the  Church  of  the 
Nativity  and  of  some  other  places  in  Bethlehem.  The  Czar 
Nicholas,  the  head  of  the  Greek  Church,  took  the  side  of  the 
Greek  priests  and  demanded  to  be  considered  as  the  protector 
of  all  the  Greek  Christians  in  the  Turkish  dominions.  On  the 
other  side  the  Emperor  Napoleon  III,  solely  with  a  view  of 
strengthening  his  own  position,  espoused  the  cause  of  the  Latin 
priests.  The  Turks,  fearing  Russia  above  all  other  powers, 
supported  the  Latin  or  Roman  Catholic  priests.  Had  the  matter 
stopped  here  it  would  have  been  of  little  importance,  but  Nicholas 
proceeded  to  strong  measures  and  in  1853  occupied  Moldavia 
and  Wallachia  (nearly  the  present  kingdom  of  Roumania). 
There  seems  little  doubt  that  Nicholas  believed  that  England 
would  not  interfere,  at  least  by  arms,  and  so  kept  on.  Napoleon 
III,  wishing  to  secure  his  power  and  distract  attention  at  home, 
saw  his  opportunity.  Palmerston  was  an  admirer  of  Napoleon 
III,  and,  sympathizing  with  him,  especially  as  he  distrusted 
Russia,  managed  to  gain  the  support  of  the  British  cabinet.  As 
a  result  Flngland  and  France  declared  war  against  Russia. 

643.  British  Approval  of  the  War ;  The  “  Crimean  War.” 
1854-1856.  —  Largely  from  ignorance  of  the  real  conditions, 
popular  feeling  in  England  was  in  favor  of  the  war.  Many  now 
think  that  the  war  was  a  grave  mistake.  As  has  been  so  often 
the  case  in  England,  commercial  reasons  played  an  important 
part,  for  it  was  believed  that  if  Russia  gained  Constantinople, 
the  trade  with  India  would  be  seriously  menaced  if  not  destroyed. 
Aberdeen,  the  prime  minister,  among  others  was  strongly  opposed 
to  war,  but  was  forced  to  yield. 


THE  CRIMEAN  WAR 


501 

Before  the  British  and  French  troops  reached  Turkey  the 
Czar  had  withdrawn  from  the  Turkish  territory  and  the  chief 
ground  for  war  was  removed.  But  it  was  deemed  needful  to 
humble  Russia,  and  so  an  expedition,  already  planned  to  attack 
Russia  in  the  Crimea,  was  sent  out.  War  began  in  earnest  in 
September,  1854,  between  England,  France,  Turkey,  and  later 
Sardinia,  on  the  one  side,  and  Russia  on  the  other.  The  battles 
of  Alma,  Balaklava,^  and  Inkerman  were  fought  but  were  inde¬ 
cisive.  One  feature  of  the  war  was  the  siege  of  Sevastopol, 
a  strongly  fortified  town  of  the  Crimea  and  the  Russian  military 
station  in  the  Black  Sea.  The  siege,  one  of  the  most  celebrated 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  lasted  nearly  a  year, 

644.  Florence  Nightingale  (1819-1910).  —  During  the  severe 
Russian  winter  the  British  troops  suffered  terribly  from  cold 
and  disease,  and  from  gross  mismanagement.  When  this  be¬ 
came  known  in  England,  there  was  great  indignation,  and  a 
demand  was  made  for  inquiry  and  redress.  Among  the  means 
for  helping  the  soldiers  was  the  provision  for  skilled  nurses  for 
the  sick  in  the  hospitals.  At  head  of  the  band  of  nurses  went 
out  Florence  Nightingale,  whose  noble  efforts  to  relieve  the 
distressed  made  her  name  a  synonym  for  efficient  care  of  the 
sick  and  wounded.  Her  successful  efforts  were  the  beginning 
of  the  movement  which  resulted  in  the  founding  of  the  modern 
Red  Cross  Society,  and  to  her  example  is  also  due  the  establish¬ 
ment  of  many  schools  for  the  thorough  training  of  nurses.  She 
received  many  tokens  of  appreciation.  A  public  testimonial  of 
^50,000  which  she  received  she  gave  to  found  a  training  school 
for  nurses.  In  1907  King  Edward  conferred  on  her  the  Order 
of  Merit,  the  first  time  it  had  ever  been  bestowed  on  a  woman  ; 
in  1908  she  received  the  freedom  of  the  City  of  London.  After 
being  an  invalid  for  many  years,  she  died  in  her  ninety-first  year 
(1910).  She  would  have  been  interred  in  Westminster  Abbey, 

1  At  Balaklava  look  place  the  brave  but  useless  charge  of  the  six  hundred  cel¬ 
ebrated  in  Tennyson's  well-known  poem. 


502 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


had  she  not  expressly  provided  for  a  simple  funeral  and  inter¬ 
ment  in  a  country  churchyard.* 

645.  Sevastopol;  Peace  of  1856.  —  In  September,  1855,  the 
French  captured  a  fort  which  commanded  Sevastopol;  the  Rus¬ 
sians,  rather  than  surrender,  sank  all  their  ships  of  war,  blew  up 
the  defenses  and  stores,  and  evacuated  the  place,  after  destroying 
as  far  as  possible  everything  of  value. 

Meantime  the  Czar  Nicholas  had  died  (1855),  and  his  son  and 
successor,  Alexander  II,  by  no  means  as  warlike  as  he,  within  a 
year  was  willing  to  consider  proposals  of  peace.  Indeed  all  parties 
were  ready  for  peace,  which  was  made  in  1856.  By  the  terms  of 
the  Treaty  of  Paris  the  Black  Sea  was  closed  to  all  ships  of  war 
but  open  to  all  merchant  vessels ;  all  conquests  with  slight  excep¬ 
tion  were  restored,  but  Moldavia  and  IVallachia  were  to  be  self- 
governed  under  the  suzerainty  of  Turkey;  and  the  sultan  agreed 
to  give  more  liberty  to  his  Christian  subjects.  It  was  also  agreed 
to  recognize  Turkey  as  a  European  power  in  good  standing,  and 
the  powers  pledged  themselves  to  maintain  her  integrity.  Eng¬ 
land  gained  from  the  war  little  or  nothing  except  experience  ;  Na¬ 
poleon  greatly  strengthened  his  position  in  European  affairs ; 
Russia  lost  prestige ;  Sardinia  was  recognized  as  a  great  power ; 
while  Turkey  gained  a  position  which  she  had  for  years  sought  in 
vain  to  acquire.  Moreover,  no  provision  was  made  to  compel  the 
sultan  to  carry  out  his  promises,  a  blameworthy  omission  on  the 
part  of  Great  Britain.  The  real  object  of  the  Crimean  War  was  to 
preserve  the  “  Balance  of  Power  ”  in  Europe.  This  was  attained  for 
the  time,  but  at  very  great  cost. 

646.  Indian  Mutiny.  1857-1858.  —  Again  the  British  had  to 
wage  a  war  and  one  of  far  greater  immediate  moment  to  England 
than  that  in  the  Crimea,  for  it  struck  at  her  own  power  and  pos¬ 
sessions.  This  was  the  great  Mutiny  of  1857  in  India.  Under 
the  administration  of  Lord  Dalhousie  (1848-1856)  the  Punjab 
had  been  annexed  (1848-1849),  as  also  Lower  Burma  (1852),  Oude 

*  See  Longfellow's  poem,  “  Santa  Filomena,"  written  in  1857. 


MUTINY  IN  INDIA 


503 


(1856),  and  other  states.  Besides  this,  Dalhousie  claimed 
that  states  whose  rulers  died  without  direct  heirs  lapsed  to  the 
British,  and  in  this  way  still  more  territory  was  brought  under 
British  rule. 

It  had  been  the  British  policy  to  employ  native  troops,  and  they 
had  proved  good  and  trustworthy  soldiers,  but  Dalhousie’s  policy 


A  Native  Indian  Army  on  the  March 


was  often  irritating  to  the  natives  and  had  alienated  many,  and 
only  slight  provocation  was  needed  to  stir  up  a  revolt.  Many 
British  troops  had  been  taken  away  from  India  and  sent  to  the 
Crimea,  leaving  the  British-Indian  army  unusually  weak.  The 
occasion  for  revolt  was  the  introduction  of  a  new  rifle  for  the 
army ;  the  cartridges  for  this  weapon,  it  was  reported,  were 
greased  with  cow’s  or  pig’s  fat.^  To  the  Mohammedan,  lard 
was  unclean,  and  to  the  Hindoo  the  cow  was  a  sacred  animal,  and 
hence  its  use  was  sacrilege.  It  was  believed  that  the  British  were 
purposely  attacking  their  religion,  and  a  mutiny  broke  out  among 
the  Sepoys,  or  native  troops,  beginning  at  Delhi  and  Lucknow, 

1  Honestly  denied  at  the  time  by  government  officials,  it  was  afterwards  discovered 
to  be  a  fact. 


504 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


and  then  spreading  over  central  and  northern  India.  There 
were  terrible  massacres  at  Cawnpore  and  elsewhere,  and  the 
heroic  defense  of  Lucknow  against  the  mutineers  has  been 
celebrated  in  prose  and  verse.  At  last,  in  1858,  the  mutiny  was 
put  down,  but  not  until  there  had  been  great  loss  of  life  and  much 
cruelty  on  both  sides.  If  the  natives  of  the  several  provinces  had 
been  united,  British  rule  could  hardly  have  been  maintained.  One 
result  of  the  mutiny  was  to  take  from  the  East  India  Company  its 
territories,  possessions,  and  executive  powers,  and  vest  them  in 
the  crown.^ 

647.  Colonial  Expansion  ;  Australia  ;  Canada.  —  Meanwhile, 
more  than  was  appreciated  at  the  time,  England’s  colonial  empire 
had  been  growing  and  increasing  in  importance.  It  is  strange 
that  neither  Gladstone  nor  Disraeli,  keen  as  they  were,  foresaw 
what  the  colonies  were  to  mean  to  Great  Britain."  The  voyages 
of  Captain  Cook  in  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  dis¬ 
closed  the  possibilities  in  the  South  Pacific,  and  other  voyages 
and  explorations  elsewhere  revealed  a  vast  amount  of  territory  un¬ 
claimed  by  Europeans.  England’s  traditional  policy  of  acquiring 
all  that  she  could  lay  hold  of  whether  at  the  time  it  seemed  useful 
or  not,  and  of  always  holding  on  to  everything,  has  stood  her  in 
good  stead. 

.At  first  Australia  and  Tasmania  were  regarded  only  as  places  to 
which  to  banish  criminals.  But  in  time  settlements  were  made 
far  from  the  convict  colonies.  The  real  foundation  of  the 
growth  of  Australia  was  the  introduction  of  sheep  farming  on  a 
large  scale;  and  when  gold  was  discovered  in  1851,  thousands 
rushed  to  the  goldfields  as  had  been  the  case  in  California.  Self- 
rule  was  granted  to  the  colonies  in  Australia,  the  only  strong  links 


1  The  control  was  vested  in  a  secretary  of  state  who  was  to  be  assisted  by  a 
council  of  fifteen.  The  secretary  was  to  be  a  member  of  the  cabinet,  and  in  India 
a  Viceroy  ruled,  also  assisted  by  a  council.  With  some  modifications  this  is  still 
the  form  of  government. 

2  Lord  John  Russell  was  almost  the  only  one  of  the  prominent  statesmen  up 
to  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  who  recognized  what  they  might  become, 


COLONIAL  EXPANSION 


505 


being  the  governor  appointed  by  the  crown,  and  the  British 
Privy  Council  acting  as  a  sort  of  supreme  court  of  appeal. 

The  larger  British  colonies  have  been  allowed  not  only  legislative 
but  also  economic  independence,  so  that  while  free  trade  has  been 
law  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  protection  has  been  allowed  in 
the  colonies  if  so  they  wished.  As  the  colonies  have  grown  in 
importance  there  has  been  a  tendency  toward  federation.  Thus 
in'  Canada  the  plan  already  described  (§  627)  was  in  1867  still 
further  extended,  and  the  various  North  American  provinces,  with 
the  exception  of  Newfoundland,  were  united  into  the  Dominion 
of  Canada.^  The  connection  with  Great  Britain  is  largely  senti¬ 
mental,  but  nevertheless  is  stronger  than  when  the  colonies  were 
ruled  directly  by  the  British  crown.  The  building  of  the  Canadian 
Pacific  railroad  and  the  opening  for  settlement  of  the  fertile  lands 
of  Manitoba,  British  Columbia,  and  other  districts  in  the  North¬ 
west  has  greatly  benefited  and  strengthened  the  Dominion. 

The  march  of  events  in  Australia  and  in  New  Zealand  has  been 
similar  to  that  in  Canada  ;  one  colony  after  another  was  established, 
until  in  1901  all  the  colonies  were  united  into  the  Commonwealth 
of  Australia,  modeled  after  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  though  dif¬ 
fering  in  details.  In  New  Zealand  also  the  various  settlements 
were  in  1875  united  into  one. 

648.  British  West  Indies.  —  In  the  West  Indies,  however,  a 
very  different  state  of  affairs  has  prevailed ;  instead  of  advance 
and  prosperity  there  have  been  loss  and  backward  rather  than 
forward  movements.  During  the  Napoleonic  wars  the  French 
and  other  colonies  were  at  the  mercy  of  England,  and  she  took, 
and,  by  the  treaty  of  peace,  retained  such  as  she  wished.  Such 
were  Tobago,  Trinidad,  and  Guiana  (in  South  America).  The 
abolition  of  negro  slavery,  the  indolence  of  the  tropical  negro,  and 
also  of  the  whites  makes  labor  a  difficult  problem.  Besides  this 

1  The  Dominion  of  Canada  has  a  federal  parliament  sitting  at  Ottawa  with  a 
cabinet  responsible  to  it ;  the  governor-general  is  appointed  by  the  crown ;  it  has 
its  own  laws  and  its  own  tariff. 


5o6 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


the  great  increase  in  the  manufacture  of  beet-root  sugar  in  Europe 
lessened  the  demand  for  tropical  sugar,  and  when  free  trade  was 
adopted  by  England,  it  opened  the  home  markets  to  slave-grown 
products  and  still  further  injured  the  British  West  India  planter. 
In  a  climate  where  nature  provides  enough  to  live  on  with  scarcely 
any  work  it  is  e.xceedingly  difficult  to  get  the  free  negroes  to  labor 
steadily.  To  supply  the  lack  of  labor,  coolies  from  India  were 
imported,  a  system  which  has  involved  serious  questions  of  its 
own,  and  in  the  carrying  out  of  which  a  condition  closely  ap¬ 
proaching  that  of  slavery  itself  resulted.  With  so  large  a  propor¬ 
tion  of  negroes  ignorant  and  indolent,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the 
white  inhabitants  of  the  islands  prefer  to  be  governed  by  the  crown, 
and,  therefore,  in  the  West  Indies  we  see  old-fashioned  crown 
colonies  with  almost  absolute  rule  from  England.^ 

649.  Cape  Colony,  1814;  Natal,  1835;  Orange  Free  State, 
1854;  Transvaal,  1858.  —  Another  of  the  important  colonies  of 
Great  Britain  is  that  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  or  Cape  Colony, 
often  referred  to  as  South  Africa.  The  history  of  this  differs  in 
many  respects  from  that  of  any  other  of  the  British  colonies.  It  was 
acquired  from  the  Dutch  during  the  Napoleonic  wars,  held  for 
eight  years,  and  finally  confirmed  to  the  British  by  the  Treaty  of 
Paris  (1814)  (§  603).  Settled  by  the  Dutch,  it  had  a  large  popu¬ 
lation  retaining  decidedly  Dutch  characteristics.  But  after  the 
confirmation  of  the  colony  to  the  English  there  was  a  large  influx 
of  British  settlers,  who  introduced  Anglo-Saxon  methods  and 
enterprise,  not  greatly  to  the  liking  of  the  old  Dutch  settlers,  or 
Boers,  and  their  descendants.  The  abolition  of  slavery  in  all  the 
British  dominions  was  also  distasteful  to  the  Boers,  and  many  of 
them  migrated  northward  to  And  new  homes  for  themselves  in  the 
wilderness.  Thus  was  founded  Natal  (1835),  the  Orange  Free 
State  (1854),  and  the  Transvaal  or  South  African  Republic  (1858). 

1  The  proportion  of  whites  to  colored  in  all  of  the  islands  is  very  small.  In  the 
Leeward  Islands  the  numbers  are  :  whites,  5070;  colored,  122,653  (1891)  ;  Jamaica, 
whites,  15,605;  colored  and  other  races,  815,778  (1911). 


ENGLAND  AND  THE  UNITED  STATES 


507 


These  South  African  states  were  weak  and  had  much  trouble  with 
the  native  tribes.  These  difficulties  affected  the  neighboring 
British  settlers  also,  and  England  interfered  from  time  to  time. 
In  1843  she  annexed  Natal. 

650.  Death  of  Prince  Albert;  American  Civil  War.  1861- 
1865.  —  In  1861  Queen  Victoria  and  the  country  also  met  with  a 
severe  loss  in  the  death  of  the  Prince  Consort,  Prince  Albert. 


Windsor  Castle 


An  event  of  the  deepest  interest  to  Great  Britain  and  her  Amer¬ 
ican  dependencies  was  the  Civil  War  in  the  United  States  (1861- 
1865).  Eleven  of  the  Southern  slaveholding  states  soon  after  the 
election  of  Abraham  Lincoln  to  the  presidency  by  a  non-slavery 
party,  believing  that  it  meant  the  downfall  of  slavery  and  hence 
was  ruinous  to  their  interests,  passed  acts  of  secession  from  the 
Union.  The  British  government  proclaimed  that  Great  Britain 
would  remain  neutral,  but  the  British  cabinet  and  most  of  the 
upper  classes  believed  that  a  permanent  Southern  Confederacy 
would  certainly  be  established,  and  did  not  conceal  their  sympathy 
with  the  South.^  The  working  classes  and  nearly  all  the  radical 
classes  were  equally  strong  in  their  support  of  the  North. 

'  Even  such  a  man  as  Gladstone  believed  in  the  final  success  of  the  South ;  Dis¬ 
raeli,  his  great  Conservative  competitor,  held  different  views,  and  John  Bright, 
Cobden,  the  Duke  of  Argyll,  and  some  others  were  strongly  on  the  side  of  the 
North  and  predicted  its  success. 


5o8 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


651.  The  Trent  Aifair.  i86i. — The  commercial  interests  of 
Great  Britain  in  the  American  conflict  were  large.  From  America 
came,  with  exceptions  too  trifling  to  name,  the  supplies  for  her 
great  cotton  mills ;  and  her  carrying  trade  with  America  was 
extensive.  The  blockade  of  the  Southern  ports  by  the  United 
States  meant  an  absolute  stoppage  of  all  this.  An  unexpected 
incident  nearly  brought  the  two  nations  to  actual  war.  The  Con¬ 
federate  government  dispatched  two  commissioners.  Mason  and 
Slidell,  to  seek  aid  for  the  South  in  Europe.  While  on  their  way 
thither  Captain  Charles  Wilkes,  an  American  naval  officer,  stopped 
the  British  steamer  Trent,  upon  which  they  were  passengers,  and 
took  them  off.  Great  Britain  demanded  their  return  on  the 
ground  that  the  act  of  Wilkes  was  contrary  to  international  law. 
The  people  of  the  North,  irritated  by  the  open  sympathy  of  so 
many  in  England  with  the  South,  applauded  Wilkes,  while  in  Eng¬ 
land  the  feeling  against  America  was  strong.  For  a  time  war 
seemed  inevitable.  Happily  wiser  counsels  prevailed.  A  per¬ 
emptory  and  somewhat  arrogant  dispatch  to  America  prepared 
by  Lord  John  Russell,  and  sent  to  the  queen  for  her  approval, 
was  by  the  efforts  of  Prince  Albert  and  herself  so  modified  that 
the  United  States  government  could  easily  get  out  of  the  dif¬ 
ficulty  by  acknowledging  that  the  act  of  Wilkes  had  not  been 
authorized  by  the  government.  President  Lincoln  recognized 
that  Wilkes  had  acted  contrary  to  the  whole  practice  of  the 
United  States,  and  in  fact  was  doing  what  she  had  fought  against 
in  the  War  of  1812.  He  was,  therefore,  more  than  ready  to  order 
the  return  of  the  two  men  and  to  make  the  statement  that  the 
action  was  wholly  unauthorized  by  the  government.  So  peace 
was  secured. 

652.  British  Blockade  Runners  and  Confederate  Cruisers ; 
Cotton  Famine. — The  North  had,  however,  serious  complaints 
againsjt  the  British  government  in  that  it  was  slack  in  preventing 
the  equipment  and  departure  of  vessels  intended  to  prey  upon 
American  commerce  and  to  run  the  blockade  of  the  Southern 


GLADSTONE  THE  LIBERAL  LEADER 


509 


ports  which  the  North  maintained.'  Another  result  which  touched 
the  English  more  closely  was  the  cotton  famine  in  Lancashire. 
Owing  to  the  impossibility  of  obtaining  cotton,  the  large  factories 
in  Lancashire  and  elsewhere  had  to  be  closed,  throwing  thousands 
out  of  employment  and  bringing  upon  them  destitution  and  suf¬ 
fering.  The  efforts  of  the 
charitable  to  relieve  this 
suffering  and  the  method 
of  the  distribution  of  the 
funds  form  one  of  the 
most  pleasing  incidents  in 
social  history.^ 

653.  Death  of  Palmer¬ 
ston  ;  Gladstone  the  Lib¬ 
eral  Leader.  1865. — 

Lord  Palmerston  died  in 
1865,  over  eighty  years 
old,  having  occupied  a 
prominent  position  in 
English  public  life  longer 
than  any  predecessor  of 

William  Ewart  Gladstone 

equal  rank,  and  only  sur¬ 
passed  in  later  years  by  Gladstone.  From  this  time  Gladstone 
definitely  ranked  himself  as  a  Liberal.  The  program  of  each  of 
the  parties  was  much  changed  from  what  it  had  been  in  the  past. 
The  aim  of  the  Liberals  was  to  extend  the  franchise  and  make 
England  more  democratic;  while  that  of  the  Conservatives  was 
that  in  any  extension  of  the  suffrage  the  right  should  be  so  guarded 
that  the  real  power  should  still  rest  with  the  upper  and  wealthier 

1  The  most  celebrated  of  the  Confederate  cruisers  thus  built  was  the  Alabama, 
whose  depredations,  with  those  of  other  similar  vessels,  gave  rise  to  the  "Alabama 
claims.” 

2  It  is  remarkable  that,  notwithstanding  the  sufferings  of  the  operatives,  they  never 
faltered  in  their  sympathy  for  the  cause  of  the  Northern  States,  which  they  believed 
to  be  the  cause  of  freedom. 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


510 

classes.  They  believed  in  a  large  empire,  a  strong  army  and  navy, 
and  a  strong  foreign  policy.  The  word  used  more  than  any  other 
to  express  their  general  policy  was  “  imperialism.” 

654.  Reform  Bills.  1866,  1867.  —  Lord  John  Russell,  now 
Earl  Russell,  became  prime  minister.  As  in  1832,  the  reform  of 
Parliament  became  the  issue  before  the  country.  A  bill  for  this 
purpose  was  introduced  by  the  Liberal  cabinet  (1866),  but  by  the 
defection  of  some  of  their  party,  who  feared  so  radical  a  measure, 
the  government  was  defeated,  and  the  Conservatives,  under  the 
lead  of  the  Earl  of  Derby,  came  into  power.  Disraeli,  the  leader 
in  the  Commons,  introduced  a  new  Reform  Bill,  which  passed  after 
being  amended  so  much  on  lines  recommended  by  Gladstone 
that  it  was  really  more  a  Liberal  than  a  Conservative  measure.' 
Not  only  was  the  suffrage  widely  extended  by  the  lowering  of 
the  requirements  for  an  elector,  but  there  was  a  redistribution 
of  the  seats  so  that  the  representation  was  somewhat  fairer ;  but 
though  by  this  act  the  working  men  of  the  cities  were  enfranchised, 
the  miners  and  agricultural  laborers  were  still  without  the  ballot. 

655.  Disraeli  Prime  Minister,  1868;  Fenians;  Irish  Griev¬ 
ances.  —  In  1868  the  Earl  of  Derby  resigned,  owing  to  ill  health, 
and  Disraeli  attained  the  height  of  his  ambition  in  becoming  Prime 
Minister  (1868).  In  the  meantime  Irish  affairs  claimed  the  atten¬ 
tion  of  the  country.  About  1863  some  Irish  and  Irish-Americans 
started  a  secret  society,  known  as  the  Fenians,  for  the  aid  of  their 
countrymen.  The  real  object  was  to  set  up  an  independent  Irish 
republic.  To  bring  about  this  result,  attempts  were  made  to  rescue 
Fenian  prisoners,  risings  took  place  in  Ireland,  and  there  were 
other  acts  of  violence,  all  of  which  were  unsuccessful.  The  Liberals 
espoused  the  cause  of  Ireland,  and  Gladstone  in  a  public  speech 
stated  the  grievances  of  Ireland  to  be  three  —  the  established 
Episcopal  church ;  the  system  of  land  tenure ;  and  the  system  of 
education.  As  the  Conservatives  had  not  a  real  majority  in  the 

1  The  Liberals  did  not  oppose  the  bill  but  offered  amendments,  many  of  which 
were  accepted  by  the  House. 


REDRESS  OF  GRIEVANCES 


5II 

Commons,  Gladstone  was  able  to  carry  a  resolution  declaring  that 
the  Irish  Episcopal  church  should  be  disestablished.  Whereupon 
Parliament  was  dissolved  and  a  general  election  under  the  new  Re¬ 
form  Bill  took  place  and  the  Liberals  gained  a  large  majority. 

656.  Gladstone  Prime  Minister,  1869 ;  Disestablishment  of 
Irish  Church,  1869.  —  When  Disraeli  found  his  party  in  the 
minority,  he  took  the  unprecedented  step  of  resigning  before  the 
new  Parliament  met.^  The  queen  sent  for  Gladstone,  who  now 
became  prime  minister,  and  on  the  meeting  of  Parliament  he  at 
once  introduced  a  bill  for  the  disestablishment  and  disendowment 
of  the  Irish  Episcopal  church,  which,  after  a  long  debate  and  con¬ 
test  with  the  House  of  Lords,  was  passed  (1869).  “The  result 
has  more  than  justified  the  supporters  of  the  bill.  The  disestab¬ 
lished  church  has  been  more  prosperous,  and  also  more  clerical, 
than  it  ever  was  before.”  On  the  other  hand,  Ireland  was  not  as 
much  affected  as  might  have  been  expected,  for  her  greatest  griev¬ 
ances  did  not  lie  in  church  matters,  but  in  the  land  laws. 

657.  Irish  Land  Act,  1870;  English  Education  Act,  1870. — 
A  strong  effort  was  made  to  remedy  some  of  the  evils  of  the  land 
system  of  Ireland  by  the  Irish  Land  Act  of  1870.  But  while 
effecting  some  improvement,  the  act  was  not  radical  enough,  for 
it  left  many  loopholes  for  evasion.^ 

Another  important  measure  of  reform  was  that  relating  to  edu¬ 
cation.  At  this  time  elementary  education  in  England  was  much 
inferior  to  that  in  Prussia,  the  United  States,  or  Switzerland.  The 
extension  of  the  franchise  in  1867  made  the  matter  of  educa¬ 
tion  a  vital  one.^  That  the  Elementary  Education  Act  of  1870 

1  The  precedent  set  by  Disraeli  has  been  followed  since,  and  seems  a  common 
sense  arrangement. 

2  The  main  purpose  of  the  act  was  to  prevent  landlords  from  turning  out  ten¬ 
ants  as  long  as  they  paid  their  rent,  and  to  compel  landlords  to  pay  for  improve¬ 
ments  that  a  tenant  had  placed  upon  the  property,  if  he  were  evicted  from  the  land. 
Such  a  course  had  long  been  the  right  of  the  Ulster  tenants  and  was  known  as  the 
Ulster  Tenant  Right. 

8  "  In  i86g  out  of  about  4,300,000  children  within  the  school  age,  2,000,000 
ought  to  have  been  at  school  and  were  not." 


512 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


was  brought  forward  and  pressed  to  a  conclusion  was  chiefly  due 
to  William  Edward  Forster,  a  member  of  Gladstone’s  cabinet. 
By  this  act  districts  were  allowed  to  choose  a  school  board,  levy 
rates  (taxes)  for  education,  and  compel  children  to  be  sent  to 
school.  This  act  marks  the  beginning  of  a  really  national  system 
of  education,  for  heretofore  education  had  been  practically  de¬ 
pendent  on  private  efforts  or  on  societies  formed  by  private  effort. 

658.  Repeal  of  University  Tests,  1871  ;  Other  Reforms. — An¬ 
other  step  in  educational  reform  was  the  opening  of  the  universi¬ 
ties  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge  to  all  without  religious  tests,  thus 
allowing  Nonconformists,  Catholics,  Jews,  and  others  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  highest  educational  advantages  (1871). 

With  their  large  majority  the  Liberals  were  able  to  pass  other 
reform  measures.  The  army  regulations  were  improved,  but 
the  Lords  declined  to  agree  to  a  proposed  abolition  of  the 
purchase  of  commissions  in  the  army,  whereupon  Gladstone 
abolished  the  system  by  royal  warrant.* 

Other  reforms  were  the  Ballot  Act  (1872),  by  which  it  was 
provided  that  future  elections  for  members  of  Parliament  should 
be  by  secret  ballot.  Hitherto  the  old  custom  of  vwa  twee 
elections  had  prevailed,  but  the  great  enlargement  of  the  fran¬ 
chise  made  that  method  undesirable,  not  only  on  account  of  the 
time  it  took,  but  still  more  because  of  the  greater  opportunity 
it  gave  for  bribing  and  undue  influence. 

659.  Liberal  Foreign  Policy;  Alabama  Claims,  1872;  Arbi¬ 
tration. —  The  foreign  policy  of  the  government  was  based  on 
neutrality  and  non-interference,  and  so  gave  offense  to  the  im¬ 
perialists.  In  1870  war  broke  out  between  Prussia  and  France 
in  which  France  was  disastrously  defeated,  resulting  in  the  down- 

'  The  system  of  the  purchase  of  commissions  in  the  army  had  been  established 
by  a  royal  warrant  of  Charles  II,  but  was  discontinued  by  William  III;  it  was 
again  established  by  warrant.  It  was  held  that  what  had  been  established  by 
warrant  could  be  removed  by  warrant.  The  Lords  were  opposed  to  the  measure 
because  purchase  was  an  easy  way  for  them  to  secure  employment  for  their 
younger  sons,  for  whom  trade  was  considered  undignified. 


REFORMS  AND  ARBITRATION 


5^3 

fall  of  the  Empire  and  the  setting  up  of  the  Third  Republic,  and 
also  in  the  establishment  of  the  German  Empire,  of  which  King 
William  of  Prussia  became  emperor.  Italian  unity  was  estab¬ 
lished  by  the  destruction  of  the  temporal  power  of  the  Pope, 
and  Rome  became  the  capital  of  the  Kingdom  of  Italy.  Russia, 
while  these  events  were  taking  place,  announced  that  she  would 
no  longer  be  bound  by  the  Treaty  of  1856  regarding  the  Black 
Sea  (§  645),  but  would  keep  war  vessels  in  those  waters  if  she 
wished.  England  did  not  consider  the  matter  important  enough 
to  fight  about,  and  so  one  of  the  measures  for  which  the  expensive 
Crimean  War  was  waged  came  to  naught. 

Another  and  more  important  feature  of  the  foreign  policy  of 
the  Liberal  government  was  the  submission  of  the  Alabama 
claims  (§  652)  of  the  United  States  to  arbitration.  The  tribunal 
which  was  appointed  awarded  to  the  United  States  damages  of 
more  than  three  million  pounds  sterling.  Other  matters  at  issue 
between  the  two  governments  also  referred  to  arbitration  were 
the  Newfoundland  fishery  claims  and  the  question  regarding  the 
extreme  northwestern  boundary  between  Canada  and  the  United 
States,  all  of  which  were  settled.  This  first  instance  in  history 
of  two  great  nations  settling  difficult  and  important  questions 
peaceably  and  harmoniously  reflects  great  credit  on  both,  espe¬ 
cially  upon  Great  Britain  and  her  government.'  It  set  an  example 
to  other  nations,  and  has  done  much  to  help  the  cause  of  inter¬ 
national  peace. 

660.  Other  Reforms;  Liberal  Defeat.  1874.  —  Another  use¬ 
ful  measure  was  the  Licensing  Act,  shortening  the  hours  during 
which  drink  could  be  sold.^ 

An  Education  Act  for  Scotland  was  also  passed  (1872),  follow- 

iThe  award  for  the  Alabama  claims  was  felt  by  the  English  to  be  excessive,  but 
was  paid  promptly.  On  the  other  hand  the  award  to  Great  Britain  for  the  fishery 
claims  was  regarded  by  the  Americans  as  excessive,  but  it  too  was  paid  promptly, 
and  thus  the  two  were  a  set-off  against  each  other. 

2  This  was  the  first  effort  of  a  British  government  to  regulate  the  sale  of  intoxi¬ 
cating  liquors  in  towns. 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


514 

ing  as  a  matter  of  course  from  the  passage  of  the  English  Act 
of  1870.  A  bill  providing  higher  education  for  Ireland  was 
defeated,  and  Gladstone  resigned,  but  as  Disraeli  refused  to 
form  a  cabinet,  Gladstone  resumed  office.  In  January,  1874, 
Parliament  was  dissolved.  In  the  elections  which  followed,  the 
Conservatives  gained  a  good  majority,  and  Gladstone,  following 
Disraeli’s  precedent,  resigned,  and  Disraeli  became  Prime  Minister 
again. 

661.  Purchase  of  Suez  Canal  Shares.  1875.  —  Not  since  1832 
had  the  Conservatives  had  so  large  a  majority  upon  which  they 
could  rely  as  now.  The  main  interest  of  the  Liberals  had  been 
in  domestic  matters ;  that  of  Disraeli  and  his  colleagues  were  in 
foreign  affairs.  Attention,  however,  was  first  turned  to  India, 
where  Disraeli  believed  he  could  advance  the  cause  of  imperial¬ 
ism.  By  the  opening  of  the  Suez  canal  in  1869  the  voyage  to 
India  was  shortened  nearly  one  half  and  the  canal  became  of  vast 
importance  to  Great  Britain,  and  its  control  almost  essential. 
This  canal  was  under  the  joint  control  of  France,  whose  engineer 
De  Lesseps  had  constructed  it,  and  the  Khedive  of  Egypt, 
through  whose  possessions  it  went.  Disraeli  suddenly  bought  for 
England  the  shares  in  the  canal  owned  by  the  khedive,  amount¬ 
ing  to  nearly  one  half,  for  _;^5,ooo,ooo,  thus  practically  controlling 
it.  Much  credit  is  due  to  Disraeli  for  seizing  the  opportunity  to 
secure  a  possession  so  valuable  to  the  British  government.^ 

662.  India ;  Victoria  Empress  of  India.  —  In  order  to  stir  up 
an  imperial  feeling  in  India  the  Prince  of  Wales  was  sent  out  in 
1875.  He  was  received  with  demonstrations  of  loyalty.  In 
1876  Lord  Lytton,  a  man  in  thorough  sympathy  with  Disraeli’s 
imperialistic  views,  was  appointed  viceroy.  Since  the  mutiny 
many  railroads  had  been  constructed  in  India,  which  not  only 
rendered  communication  easier  and  more  rapid  for  commercial 

‘  Tlie  khedive  was  practically  bankrupt  and  had  almost  concluded  a  bargain  for 
the  sale  of  his  shares  in  France  when  Disraeli  heard  of  it  and  stepped  in  and 
secured  them.  Though  a  heavy  expense  at  first,  in  the  end  the  investment  became 
an  exceedingly  profitable  one. 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS 


515 


undertakings,  but  were  invaluable  for  the  quick  transport  of  troops. 
The  Suez  canal  by  shortening  the  time  for  transportation  had 
greatly  increased  the  British  trade  with  India  and  brought  the 
countries  closer  together.  To  extend  still  further  his  imperial 
policy,  Disraeli  in  1876  passed  the  Royal  Titles  Bill,  which  gave  the 


The  Houses  of  Parliament  built  in  1852 


queen  the  additional  title  of  Empress  of  India,  and  on  May  i,  1876, 
she  was  formally  proclaimed  by  that  title  in  London,  and  on  Janu¬ 
ary  I,  1877,  with  pomp  and  ceremony,  in  Delhi,  India^  (§  684). 

663.  Foreign  Affairs;  Turkey,  1878;  Egypt;  Conservative 
Defeat,  1880.  —  Foreign  affairs  now  took  on  a  serious  aspect. 
A  war  between  Russia  and  Turkey  broke  out,  and  before  long 
Russia  was  marching  on  Constantinople.  Again  the  cry  of  injury 
to  India  and  British  interests  was  raised.  Disraeli  sent  a  fleet  to 
the  East  and  hurried  Indian  troops  to  Malta,  and  war  seemed 
imminent.  But  Russia,  having  no  wish  to  be  involved  in  another 
war  with  England,  made  terms  with  Turkey  in  the  Treaty  of  San 
Stefano  (1878). 

'  Though  it  was  stated  that  this  new  title  would  only  be  used  in  Indian  docu¬ 
ments,  before  a  year  the  queen  used  it  in  English  documents  as  well,  and  in  1893 
it  was  put  upon  the  British  coinage. 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


516 

Meantime  Disraeli  had  become  the  Earl  of  Beaconsfield ;  and 
Lord  Salisbury,  the  foreign  minister,  notified  the  Russian  gov¬ 
ernment  that  the  Treaty  of  San  Stefano  would  not  be  accepted  by 
Great  Britain.  A  message  from  Austria,  whose  dominions  bordered 
on  those  of  Turkey,  took  the  same  ground,  and  a  European  coun¬ 
cil  was  called  to  meet  at  Berlin  to  settle  the  Eastern  Question. 
This  congress  met  in  1878,  and  the  Treaty  of  Berlin  was  framed 
and  signed.  The  Berlin  Congress  somewhat  resembled  the  Con¬ 
gress  of  Vienna  (§  603)  in  the  way  it  settled  the  affairs  of  the 
various  countries  without  the  slightest  reference  to  the  wishes 
of  those  most  nearly  concerned.  Meantime,  England  received 
from  Turkey  the  island  of  Cyprus  on  condition  of  her  protecting 
Asia  Minor.  Though  Turkey  was  shorn  of  a  good  deal  of  her 
territory,  on  the  whole  she  came  out  of  the  struggle  very  well  and 
retained  her  place  as  one  of  the  European  great  powers. 

In  1879  Beaconsfield,  in  connection  with  France,  set  up  a  dual 
control  in  Egypt,  both  countries  being  largely  interested  in  the 
financial  concerns  of  that  country,  which  was  bankrupt. 

The  Conservatives,  who  had  been  in  power  five  years  or  more, 
had  given  their  attention  almost  wholly  to  foreign  affairs,  laying 
themselves  open  to  the  charge  of  neglecting  home  interests,  a 
position  of  which  the  Liberals,  particularly  Mr.  Gladstone,  took 
advantage.  Parliament  was  dissolved  (1880),  and  in  a  subsequent 
election  the  Liberals  had  a  large  majority.  Disraeli,'  as  before, 
resigned,  and  Gladstone  again  became  prime  minister. 

664.  Home  Affairs;  South  Africa ;  Ireland;  “Boycotting.”  — 
The  policy  of  Gladstone  was  “  peace  abroad,  and  retrenchment 
and  reform  at  home.”  Trouble  with  Afghanistan  and  with  the 
Boers  in  Africa  (§  649),  an  inheritance  from  the  last  administra¬ 
tion,  occupied  the  serious  attention  of  the  new  ministers.  In  the 
former  case  a  severe  blow  was  inflicted  on  Afghanistan. 

The  Transvaal  Republic  (§  649),  recognized  by  Great  Britain 

•  Lord  Beaconsfield  died  in  1881  at  the  age  of  77.  He  was  mourned  by  the 
queen  as  a  personal  friend. 


AFFAIRS  IN  AFRICA  AND  IN  IRELAND  517 

in  1852,  had  not  been  prosperous,  and  in  1877  anarchy  very 
nearly  prevailed  within,  while  the  warlike  Zulus,  under  an  able 
chief,  Cetewayo,  threatened  destruction  from  without.  Claiming 
that  the  disorder  in  the  Transvaal  endangered  the  peace  of  all  South 
Africa,  the  British  annexed  the  republic,  in  spite  of  a  deputation 
from  the  Boers  praying  for  their  independence.  The  British  now 
attacked  the  Zulus,  and  conquering  them  with  no  little  difficulty, 
annexed  Zululand.  Freed  from  their  native  enemies,  the  Boers 
planned  to  regain  their  freedom  from  the  hated  British  rule.  A 
rebellion  broke  out  (1880),  in  the  course  of  which  a  small  body 
of  British  was  defeated  at  Majuba  Hill  (1881). 

Gladstone,  now  in  office,  having  been  satisfied  that  the  annexa¬ 
tion  of  1877  had  been  made  on  the  false  information  that  it  was 
desired  by  the  majority  of  the  people,  was  already  preparing  to 
grant  the  Transvaal  practical  independence.  This  was  done 
(March,  1881).  The  action  of  the  British  government  was  actu¬ 
ated  by  a  sense  of  justice,  but,  coming  as  it  did  soon  after  the 
Boers’  victory  of  Majuba  Hill,  it  led  the  Boers  to  believe  that  the 
concession  was  gained  by  the  victory  at  Majuba  instead  of  be¬ 
stowed  in  spite  of  it.  The  impression  was  thus  conveyed  that 
armed  resistance  would  at  any  time  be  successful. 

Ireland  occupied  the  chief  thoughts  of  the  government.  In 
1881  a  new  Land  Act  was  passed,  extending  the  provisions  of 
that  of  1870  (§  657),  but  it  had  little  effect,  for  the  Irish  were 
seeking  Home  Rule,  nothing  short  of  which  would  be  acceptable. 
Under  the  leadership  of  Charles  Stewart  Parnell,*  who  led  eighty 
of  the  Irish  members  in  Parliament,  every  effort  was  made  to 
bring  this  about  by  the  use  of  all  possible  parliamentary  obstruc¬ 
tive  tactics.  Outside  of  Parliament  every  kind  of  means  was  em¬ 
ployed  to  further  the  cause.  An  Irish  National  Land  League 
was  founded  (1879),  whose  object  at  first  was  to  protect  tenants 

1  Parnell  (1846-1891)  was  an  Irishman,  son  of  an  American  mother,  and  a  non- 
Calholic.  He  was  the  ablest  supporter  of  the  Irish  cause  of  his  day,  and  a  man  of 
extraordinary  personal  influence. 


PIISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


518 

against  unjust  rent,  but  afterwards  to  secure  peasant  proprietor¬ 
ship  of  the  land.^  Among  the  methods  used  to  further  the  objects 
of  the  League  was  boycotting,  a  word  which  was  now  used  for 
the  first  time.^  Unfortunately  peaceful  means  were  not  always 
used ;  cattle  of  obnoxious  landlords  were  mutilated,  barns  were 
burnt,  and  worse  still,  landlords  were  shot  at  and  some  were  killed. 
Agents  were  threatened  by  anonymous  letters,  graves  were  dug 
before  their  houses,  and  any  one  who  dared  to  take  a  farm  from 
which  a  former  tenant  had  been  evicted,  did  so  at  the  risk  of 
his  life. 

665.  Irish  Coercion  Act,  1881  ;  Phoenix  Park  Murders,  1882. 
—  There  seemed  little  to  do  but  pass  another  Coercion  Act  (1881), 
but  this  only  made  matters  in  Ireland  worse.  At  last  a  milder 
policy  was  tried.  A  bill  favoring  the  smaller  Irish  tenants  was 
passed.  Irish  affairs  seemed  nearer  settlement  in  May,  1882,  than 
perhaps  ever  before,  when  the  brutal  murder  in  Phoenix  Park, 
Dublin,  of  Lord  Frederick  Cavendish,  the  newly  appointed  secre¬ 
tary  for  Ireland,  and  T.  H.  Burke,  the  permanent  under-secretary, 
ruined  the  fair  prospect.  This  dastardly  crime,  disowned  by  the 
Irish  leaders,  was  the  work  of  those  called  “  Irreconcilables,”  who 
wished  to  destroy  any  possibility  of  reconciliation  with  England. 
A  Prevention  of  Crimes  Bill  was  quickly  passed  through  Parlia¬ 
ment,  and  in  order  to  put  an  end  to  factious  obstruction  in  the 
Commons  new  rules  giving  the  speaker  power  to  close  debates 
were  adopted. 

666.  Reform  Acts;  Foreign  Affairs;  Egypt,  1882.  —  The 
government  was  able  to  carry  out  several  measures  of  reform  in 
Great  Britain  :  the  game  preserve  regulations  were  slightly  relaxed 
by  allowing  farmers  to  kill  hares  and  rabbits  which  injured  their 

>  Parnell’s  own  definition  of  the  Irish  Land  Question  was,  “  Abolish  landlordism, 
and  make  the  man  who  occupies  and  cultivates  the  soil  the  owner  of  the  soil.” 

2  Captain  Boycott  was  an  Englishman,  an  agent  for  an  English  landlord,  who 
declined  to  receive  the  rent  which  the  tenants  considered  "  fair  ” ;  and  when  he 
proceeded  to  eject  the  tenants,  his  servants  left  him,  local  tradesmen  would  not  deal 
with  him,  and  he  was  unable  to  harvest  the  crops  of  his  principal. 


REFORM  ACTS 


519 


crops ;  an  Employers’  Liability  Act  protected  workmen  against 
negligence  by  their  employers ;  the  Bankruptcy  laws  were  im¬ 
proved;  and  Nonconformists  were  allowed  to  use  churchyards  of 
the  established  church  for  burials.  Before  the  ministry  went  out 
of  office  it  passed  a  Franchise  Bill  (1884)  and  a  Redistribution 
Bill  (1885),  enlarging  the  electoral  franchise  and  giving  practically 
household  suffrage.' 

The  government  was  severely  criticised  for  its  foreign  policy. 
Afghanistan  had  been  abandoned,  and  the  settlement  in  South 
Africa  already  referred  to  was  unpopular,  but  the  climax  was 
reached  in  Egypt.  The  dual  control  of  France  and  England 
(§  663)  was  greatly  disliked  by  many  of  the  Egyptians,  and  a 
rebellion  headed  by  Arabi  Bey  was  set  on  foot.  France  would 
not  interfere,  and  England  was  left  to  meet  the  troubles  single- 
handed.  English  residents  were  killed  in  Alexandria  and  this 
brought  about  a  bombardment  by  the  British  fleet.  Troops  were 
sent  from  England  under  General  Wolseley,  and  he  defeated  Arabi 
Bey  at  Tel-el-Kebir  (1882). 

667.  Trouble  in  the  Sudan,  1883-1885;  Death  of  General 
Gordon,  1885.  —  The  tribes  to* the  south  of  Egypt,  in  the  district 
known  as  the  Sudan,  revolted  and  threw  off  the  rule  of  the 
khedive,  under  the  leadership  of  a  fanatical  chief,  Mohammed 
Ahmed,  known  as  the  Mahdi  or  Mussulman  Messiah. 

The  British  government  resolved  to  abandon  the  Sudan,  and 
early  in  1884  General  Charles  Gordon  was  sent  out  to  arrange 
for  the  withdrawing  of  the  garrisons,  a  plan  which  he  approved. 
He  had  been  governor  of  the  Sudan  under  the  - Egyptian  govern¬ 
ment  and  was  supposed  to  know  the  country  better  than  any 
other  Englishman.  On  his  arrival  at  Khartum  in  the  Sudan 

1  The  Franchise  Bill  increased  the  number  of  voters  from  about  3,000,000  to 
about  5,000,000,  and  put  workingmen  in  the  counties  on  the  same  footing  as  those 
in  towns.  By  the  Redistribution  Bill  a  much  fairer  representation  was  given  to 
towns  and  manufacturing  districts;  to  London,  for  instance,  were  assigned  61  mem¬ 
bers  instead  of  22.  Though  the  population  of  Ireland  had  decreased,  its  represen¬ 
tation  was  unchanged. 


520 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


he  disregarded  instructions  and  provided  for  the  retention  of 
the  Sudan.  This  action  placed  the  English  cabinet  in  an  ex¬ 
ceedingly  difficult  position,  and  it  hesitated  and  delayed.  The 
Mahdi’s  troops  besieged  Khartum,  the  city  was  betrayed  and 
Gordon  was  killed  only  two  days  before  the  British  troops  ar¬ 
rived.  Few  events  have  aroused  such  feeling  in  England.  The 
queen  did  not  restrain  her  anger  and  never  forgave  Gladstone ; 
and  the  government  was  severely  blamed  for  its  dilatoriness.* 

668.  Gladstone  Prime  Minister  the  Third  Time  (1885)  > 
Irish  Home  Rule  Bill.  —  The  Liberals  were  defeated  on  a 
financial  measure  (1885)  and  resigned.  The  Conservatives, 
with  the  Marquis  of  Salisbury  at  their  head,  held  the  reins  till 
a  new  election,  under  the  new  Reform  Bill,  by  which  the  Liberals 
were  returned  to  power  with  a  majority  of  eighty-six  over  the 
Conservatives,  and  Gladstone  became  Prime  Minister  for  the  third 
time. 

The  results,  however,  were  not  satisfactory  to  either  party,  for 
the  balance  of  power  was  held  by  eighty-six  Irish  Home  Rulers 
under  the  leadership  of  Parnell.  Mr.  Gladstone  had  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  there  were  but  two  courses  to  be  followed : 
Home  Rule  for  Ireland,  or  Coercion.  He  was  unalterably  op¬ 
posed  to  the  latter,  and  so  declared  for  Home  Rule.^  Early 
in  the  session  of  the  new  Parliament  he  introduced  his  first  Home 
Rule  Bill.’  This  measure  divided  the  Liberal  party,  and  nearly 
one  hundred  Liberal  members,  calling  themselves  Liberal-Union- 

>  Charles  George  Gordon  has  been  called  the  Galahad  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
He  was  “  disinterested,  highminded,  saintly,  noble,  and  pure,”  but  like  many  such 
characters,  he  was  a  law  unto  himself  ;  he  must  act  absolutely  in  accord  with  what 
seemed  right  to  him  at  the  time,  regardless  of  others  or  of  consequences.  It  fs 
impossible  for  such  a  man  to  act  under  orders,  and  a  careful  examination  of  the 
facts  can  hardly  fail  to  show  that  he  brought  his  fate  upon  himself.  But  this  fact 
does  not  acquit  the  government  of  serious  blame. 

2  Subsequent  events  have  justified  Gladstone's  opinion. 

3  The  provisions  of  the  bill  are  too  complicated  to  give,  but  in  general  it  was 
proposed  to  give  Ireland  an  independent  Parliament,  a  local  executive,  and  shut 
her  out  from  representation  in  the  imperial  Parliament,  which  body,  however, 
was  to  have  a  specifiea  control  over  the  Irisn  legislation  and  measures. 


IRISH  HOME  RULE  BILL 


521 


ists,  joined  the  Conservatives  in  voting  against  the  measure  and 
bringing  about  its  defeat. 

669.  Conservatives  in  Power;  Victoria’s  Jubilee.  1887.  —  At 
the  new  election  the  Conservatives  and  Liberal-Unionists  com¬ 
bined  had  a  majority  of  more  than  one  hundred  over  the  Liberals 
and  Irish  Nationalists.  As  Mr.  Gladstone  was  committed  to 
Home  Rule,  the  cabinet  at  once  resigned,  and  the  Marquis  of 
Salisbury  became  Prime  Minister  for  the  second  time. 

The  new  government,  seeing  the  need  of  conciliation,  passed 
several  measures  of  relief  for  Ireland,  and  that  island  became  un¬ 
usually  quiet.  This,  however,  was  not  wholly  due  to  legislation, 
but  to  divisions  in  the  Irish  party  owing  to  grave  personal  charges 
against  Mr.  Parnell. 

Measures  were  passed  extending  to  the  government  of  the 
counties  the  principle  of  the  laws  regarding  local  municipal  cor¬ 
porations  and  placing  the  choice  of  most  county  officers  in  the 
local  rate  (tax)  payers  instead  of  the  crown  or  aristocracy. 

A  most  interesting  event  in  which  all  parties  united  was  the 
celebration  in  1887  of  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  accession  of 
Victoria. 

670.  Gladstone  Fourth  Time  Prime  Minister,  1892  ;  Second 

Home  Rule  Bill.  1893.  —  general  election  of  1892  the  Con¬ 

servatives  were  defeated,  but  the  Liberals  again  were  dependent 
on  the  Irish  vote.  Gladstone  for  the  fourth  time  became  prime 
minister  and  soon  introduced  his  second  Home  Rule  Bill,  which 
after  considerable  amendment  and  a  long  debate  marked  by 
such  scenes  of  disorder  as  had  not  been  before  witnessed  in  the 
House,  was  finally  carried  by  a  majority  of  thirty-four.  The  Lords 
were  bitterly  opposed  to  any  Home  Rule  Bill,  and  defeated  it 
by  a  vote  of  419  to  41. 

671.  Resignation  of  Gladstone,  1894;  His  Death.  1898.  —  In 
March,  1894,  Gladstone,  now  eighty-four  years  old,  and  with  de¬ 
fective  hearing  and  eyesight,  resigned  as  prime  minister.  With  all 
his  limitations  he  was  one  of  England’s  greatest  statesmen ;  he  had 


522 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


been  in  public  life  for  sixty  years  and  for  nearly  half  that  period  a 
great  leader.  His  unblemished  public  and  private  life,  his  deeply 
religious  character,  his  sympathy  with  the  oppressed,  his  complete 
devotion  to  the  welfare  of  his  country,  and  his  great  abilities  have 
given  him  a  high  place  in  British  history.  Mr.  Gladstone  died  in 


Westminster  Abbey 


1898,  was  given  a  public  funeral,  and  was  buried  in  Westminster 
Abbey,  where  a  fine  statue  commemorates  him.^ 

672.  Lord  Rosebery  Prime  Minister,  1894 ;  Salisbury  Prime 
Minister,  1895;  Unionists.  —  After  the  retirement  of  Gladstone 
the  queen  exercised  her  prerogative  in  sending  for  Lord  Rosebery, 
who  became  Prime  Minister.  The  fact  of  his  being  in  the  Lords 
was  a  serious  objection  to  a  party  whose  field  of  action  is  emphat¬ 
ically  in  the  Commons.  In  1895  the  government  was  defeated  on 

^  Though  he  had  always  stood  up  for  the  royal  family,  so  deeply  did  the  queen 
dislike  his  political  views,  that  when  he  came  officially  to  resign  his  office  and  bid 
farewell,  she  expressed  no  regret  at  the  close  of  his  long  service  and  treated  him 
with  coldness,  neither  did  she,  as  was  usual,  consult  him  as  to  his  successor.  It  was 
an  exhibition  of  pettiness  which  ill  became  her.  On  the  occasion  of  his  death  the 
queen  sent  a  message  of  sympathy  to  his  wife,  adroitly  avoiding  any  commendation 
of  his  public  services. 


TERRITORIAL  EXPANSION 


523 


a  minor  measure,  the  ministry  resigned,  and  Lord  Salisbury  became 
prime  minister  for  the  third  time.  Parliament  was  dissolved,  and 
at  the  new  elections  the  Unionist  government  received  a  majority 
of  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty.  The  Unionists  were  led  in 
the  Commons  by  Arthur  J.  Balfour,  a  nephew  of  the  prime  min¬ 
ister,  Lord  Salisbury. 

673.  Armenian  Massacres,  1896;  Venezuela  Boundary  Dis¬ 
pute.  1895-1896.- — -The  chief  attention  of  the  cabinet  was  given 
to  foreign  affairs.  The  Eastern  Question  was  revived  by  the 
atrocities  wrought  by  the  Turks  against  their  Armenian  subjects. 
These  aroused  the  deepest  feeling  in  England.  As  no  other  power 
would  join  her,  England  declined  to  interfere,  as  she  did  also  in 
the  somewhat  similar  case  of  Crete. 

Still  another  difficult  problem  confronted  the  Government  in 
1895,  when  President  Cleveland  of  the  United  States  sent  a 
warlike  message  to  the  American  Congress  in  regard  to  a  dis¬ 
pute  regarding  the  boundaries  between  Venezuela  and  British 
Guiana,  in  which  he  made  a  blunt  application  of  the  Monroe  Doc¬ 
trine,  claiming  that  the  United  States  had  a  right  to  settle  the  dis¬ 
pute.  Fortunately,  after  long  negotiations,  the  matter  was 
referred  to  arbitration,  by  which  the  British  claims  were  prac¬ 
tically  affirmed.' 

674.  Territorial  Expansion  ;  Partition  of  Africa.  —  Another  far 
more  threatening  problem  was  the  South  African  one.  About  1880 
all  the  European  nations  began  to  pay  closer  attention  to  coloniza¬ 
tion.  This  was  caused  to  a  great  extent  by  the  increased  facilities  for 
communication  and  for  the  transportation  of  commodities.  Great 
Britain,  France,  Germany,  Russia,  and  Italy  were  each  seeking  to 
extend  its  own  “  sphere  of  influence,”  as  it  was  called.  The  fields 
less  occupied  than  any  other  were  Africa  and  the  huge  but  weak 
empire  of  China,  and  upon  these  the  great  nations  cast  longing  eyes. 

1  The  matter  was  referred  to  the  arbitration  of  two  British  and  two  United  States 
judges,  presided  over  by  the  Russian  jurist,  Professor  de  Martens.  A  unanimous 
award  was  rendered  in  October,  1899. 


524 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


The  scramble  for  Africa  soon  began,  and  every  nation  seized 
what  it  could.  It  was  a  repetition  of  the  colonial  history  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  A  comparison  between  a  map  of  Africa  in 
1880  and  Africa  in  1900  is  most  instructive.  By  the  latter  date 
France  not  only  had  Algeria,  her  old  colony,  but  claimed  a  good 
part  of  western  Africa  north  of  the  equator ;  Germany  held  large 
tracts  in  east  and  southwest  Africa ;  Portugal,  possessions  east  and 
west ;  Italy,  a  strip  south  of  Abyssinia ;  while  Great  Britain,  in  addi¬ 
tion  to  her  older  colonies,  had  greatly  increased  her  sphere  of  con¬ 
trol.  Even  by  1898,  except  Morocco,  the  Kingdom  of  Abyssinia, 
and  Liberia,  there  was  scarcely  a  foot  of  the  continent,  even  if  it 
were  nominally  called  free,  that  was  not  either  absolutely  in  the 
possession  of  some  European  power  or  under  its  influence. 

Besides  the  African  territories,  France  had  possessions  in  the 
East,  Germany  had  gained  a  foothold  in  the  South  Pacific,  and 
Russia  by  the  construction  of  the  Trans-Siberian  railway  was 
stretching  eastward  with  designs  on  China,  and  was  also  scheming 
to  gain  part  of  Persia,  and  to  anticipate  England  in  the  lands  be¬ 
yond  her  Indian  frontier. 

675.  South  Africa;  Cecil  Rhodes.  1888-1890.  —  It  is  evident 
that  under  such  conditions  foreign  affairs  would  hold  no  slight 
place  in  British  counsels.  Countries  were  not  quite  so  ready  to 
go  to  war  as  previously,  though  there  is  little  doubt  that  it  was 
rather  on  account  of  the  great  expense  of  military  measures  and 
the  uncertainty  whether  the  people  in  the  different  countries  would 
stand  the  great  increase  in  taxation  which  would  be  needful.  Be¬ 
tween  1885  and  1889,  during  which  time  most  of  the  partition  of 
Africa  had  taken  place,  no  war  had  been  waged  on  that  account, 
something  which  could  hardly  have  happened  fifty  years  earlier. 

But  soon  Great  Britain  had  to  face  a  most  serious  trouble  in  South 
Africa.  The  events  which  led  up  to  the  settlement  of  1881  (§§  649, 
664)  have  been  mentioned.  Soon  after  this,  gold  \vas  discovered 
in  the  Transvaal,  and  at  once  large  numbers  of  men  set  out  for  the 
gold  fields,  introducing  a  new  element  into  the  country  of  the 


AFFAIRS  IN  SOUTH  AFRICA 


525 


Boers,  and  one  particularly  irritating  to  the  slow,  conservative 
Dutch  nature.  Though  profiting  by  the  gold  fields  and  the  attend¬ 
ant  increase  of  material  wealth,  the  Boers  carefully  excluded  the 
newcomers  from  any  share  in  the  government. 

The  discovery  of  rich  diamond  fields,  and  the  formation  of  a 


A  Boer  Trek 

British  South  African  Company  under  the  leadership  of  Cecil 
Rhodes,  an  Englishman  who  had  acquired  an  enormous  fortune 
through  the  diamond  mines,  was  another  grievance,  for  the  lands 
under  its  control  not  only  prevented  the  Boers  from  extending 
their  own  boundaries,  but  increased  the  number  of  irritating  immi¬ 
grants.  In  1890  Cecil  Rhodes  used  his  power  and  influence  to  in¬ 
crease  British  power  in  South  Africa.  The  large  territory  north  of 
the  Transvaal,  known  later  as  Rhodesia,  was  opened  to  settlement. 

676.  British  “  Uitlanders  ”  ;  Jameson’s  Raid.  1895-1896. — 
The  immigrants,  called  by  the  Boers  Uitlanders  (Foreigners),  became 
greatly  dissatisfied  with  their  position,  claiming  that,  though  com¬ 
pelled  to  pay  heavy  taxes  to  the  Boers,  they  had  no  voice  in  the 


526 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


government,  as  the  period  of  naturalization  was  unjustly  extended. 
The  President  of  the  Transvaal,  Paul  Kruger,  an  able  man,  but 
conservative  and  hard  to  move,  was  reelected  in  1895,  and  the 
old  policy  continued.  The  Uitlanders  were  provoked  at  this  and 
resolved  to  better  their  situation.  Rhodes  and  his  party  sympa¬ 
thized  with  them,  and  it  was  agreed  to  attempt  to  overthrow  the 
Boer  government  by  force.  One  of  the  chief  men  in  this  plan 
was  Dr.  Jameson,  the  administrator  of  Rhodesia  (Mashonaland). 
On  his  own  responsibility  he  crossed  the  border  into  the  Trans¬ 
vaal  with  600  men,  avowedly  to  protect  women  and  children 
against  ill-usage  by  the  Boers.  He  and  his  men  were  easily  over¬ 
powered,  taken  prisoners,  and  finally  handed  over  to  the  British 
authorities  for  punishment. 

The  result  of  Jameson’s  raid  was  to  make  the  Uitlanders'  position 
more  intolerable,  while  the  Boers  believed  that  the  British  govern¬ 
ment  knew  of  the  raid  and  approved  of  it.  Thus  a  strong  race 
feeling  was  stirred  up  throughout  South  Africa,  where  the  large 
population  of  Dutch  descent  sympathized  with  the  Boers.  Rhodes 
resigned  his  position  as  prime  minister  of  Cape  Colony,  and 
the  Dutch  party  for  the  time  being  was  in  the  ascendancy  in 
Cape  Colony.^  Meantime  much  feeling  was  aroused  in  England. 

677.  Difficulties  in  South  Africa.  1896-1899.  —  The  Boers,  in 
preparation  for  a  struggle  with  Great  Britain,  began  to  import  arms 
and  ammunition,  and  entered  into  negotiations  with  the  Orange 
Free  State  to  secure  it  as  an  ally.  The  British  continued  to  extend 
their  influence,  railroads  were  built,  and  the  scheme  of  Cecil 
Rhodes  to  connect  Egypt  and  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  by  a 
“  Cape  to  Cairo  ”  railroad  no  longer  seemed  an  absurdity.  Mean¬ 
time  various  efforts  were  made  by  the  English  to  make  some  sat¬ 
isfactory  arrangement  with  the  Boers,  but  without  avail. 

1  Jameson  and  his  officers  were  handed  over  to  the  British  and  sent  to  England 
for  trial.  They  were  sentenced  to  imprisonment.  The  leaders  of  the  Uitlanders 
who  aided  Jameson  were  sentenced  to  death  by  the  Boers,  but  these  sentences 
were  commuted  to  heavy  fines.  Rhodes  was  severely  censured  by  a  Parliamen¬ 
tary  committee,  but  nothing  was  done  against  him. 


THE  BOER  WAR 


527 


The  condition  was  one  of  extreme  difficulty.  The  Uitlanders 
now  outnumbered  the  Boers,  and  furnished  a  large  part  of  the 
revenue  of  the  state,  and  yet  were  not  only  kept  from  the  fran¬ 
chise,  but  were  also  subjected  to  many  restrictions  irritating  to 
men  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Boers, 
who  had  settled  the  country,  and  had  lived  there  many  years, 
were  surrounded  by  men  in  large  groups  who  were  uncongenial  in 
every  way  and  who  threatened  by  their  very  numbers  to  change  the 
whole  character  of  the  state.  The  Boers  knew  little  of  the  outer 
world  and  recognized  neither  how  great  had  been  the  advance  in 
every  way  nor  the  practical  impossibility  of  fixity  in  social  and 
political  affairs. 

678.  British  Ultimatum;  Boers  choose  War.  1899.  —  In 
September,  1899,  Joseph  Chamberlain,  the  British  Colonial  Sec¬ 
retary,  sent  an  ultimatum  to  the  Boers,  to  which  President  Kruger 
of  the  Transvaal  sent  a  reply  demanding  that  the  British  troops 
should  be  withdrawn  from  the  boundary  of  the  republic  and  that 
all  reenforcements  should  be  sent  back.  On  the  refusal  of  the 
British  even  to  discuss  such  a  proposition,  the  Boers  began  active 
warlike  measures  and  w'ere  joined  by  the  Orange  Free  State, 
which,  though  it  had  no  direct  quarrel  with  England,  united  with 
the  Transvaal  in  defense,  as  was  believed,  of  Dutch  freedom  in 
South  Africa. 

Like  the  American  Revolution,  the  war  was  begun  with  little 
knowledge  on  either  side  of  the  real  conditions  and  of  the  char¬ 
acter  of  the  opposing  combatant.  The  English  believed  that,  like 
so  many  of  their  colonial  wars,  it  would  soon  be  ended,  and  with 
comparative  ease ;  while  the  Boers  did  not  recognize  the  fact  that 
where  national  character  and  national  reputation  were  at  stake 
the  British  were  as  stubborn  as  themselves.  The  Boers  also 
expected  that  foreign  nations  jealous  of  England  would  un¬ 
doubtedly  interfere. 

679.  The  South  African  War.  1899-1902. — The  war  began 
in  October,  1899,  with  the  invasion  of  Natal  by  the  Boers.  The 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


528 

British  cabinet  was  unprepared,  and  the  early  months  of  the  con¬ 
flict  were  disastrous  for  the  British  arms.  An  army  was  shut  up 
in  Ladysmith,  forces  were  besieged  in  Kimberly  and  Mafeking, 
and  other  bodies  of  British  troops  were  defeated.  The  news  of 
these  disasters  roused  an  intense  feeling  in  Great  Britain,  and 
many  who  disapproved  of  the  action  of  the  government  gave  their 
support  on  account  of  national  pride.  Great  numbers  of  troops 
were  sent  out,  the  inefficient  generals  were  superseded,  and  Lord 
Roberts,  who  had  shown  great  skill  in  an  Afghan  war,  and  Sir 
Herbert,  later  Lord  Kitchener,  who  had  been  successful  in  the 
Sudan  (§  680),  took  charge.  Owing  much  to  the  character  of 
the  country  and  partly  to  fever  among  the  troops,  the  cause  of 
the  British  prevailed  slowly,  but  after  a  heroic  resistance  the  Boers 
were  subdued,  but  not  without  great  loss  of  life  on  both  sides. 

There  were  probably  not  more  than  60,000  fighting  men  in  the 
two  republics,  and  yet  it  took  Great  Britain  more  than  two  years 
and  an  army  of  250,000  men  to  conquer.  The  Boers  showed  an 
amount  of  courage,  skill,  and  endurance  that  roused  the  admira¬ 
tion  of  the  world.  Many  in  both  Europe  and  America  openly 
sympathized  with  them,  and  efforts  were  made  to  get  the  United 
States  to  mediate,  but  Great  Britain  refused,  saying  that  the  gov¬ 
ernment  did  “  not  propose  to  accept  the  intervention  of  any  power 
in  the  South  African  War.”  Peace  was  not  established  until 
June  I,  1902,  when  the  two  Boer  republics  were  formally  incor¬ 
porated  with  the  British  Empire.^ 

680.  English  Occupation  of  Egypt;  The  Sudan.  1898. — 
Meantime  affairs  in  Egypt  were  progressing  favorably  under 
British  administration.  Through  the  practically  despotic  rule  of 

1  In  England  there  was  a  respectable  minority  who  attacked  the  course  of  the 
government  and  when  war  came  did  not  hesitate  to  denounce  it.  These  men  were 
called  "  Pro-Boers  "  and  received  from  the  press  and  from  the  majority  much 
harsh  and  abusive  criticism,  and  on  more  than  one  occasion  "  Pro-Boers "  were 
hardly  treated  by  rioters.  It  has  been  estimated  that  Great  Britain  lost  20,000 
lives  ahd  100,000  men  disabled  by  wounds  and  disease.  The  money  cost  of  the 
war  was  more  than  ^^200.000, 000  of  which  ,^160,000,000  became  part  of  the  national 
debt. 


ENGLAND  IN  EGYPT  AND  CHINA 


529 


Sir  Evelyn  Baring,  later  created  Lord  Cromer,  order  had  been 
brought  out  of  chaos,  and  prosperity  out  of  bankruptcy.  So  far 
as  material  affairs  were  concerned  Egypt  had  not  ever,  certainly 
in  modern  times,  been  so  prosperous  and  quiet.  Both  English 
political  parties  had  promised  that  the  British  occupation  of  Egypt 
should  be  temporary,  but  the  control  of  the  Suez  canal  was  so 
valuable,  that  the  risk  of  handing  Egypt  over  even  to  the  khedive 
was  too  great  to  be  assumed  by  any  administration. 

Under  Sir  Herbert  Kitchener  the  Egyptian  army  had  been  im¬ 
proved  so  much  as  to  be  an  efficient  body.  From  the  time  of 
Gordon’s  death  (§  667)  there  had  been  a  cry  in  England  for  the 
reoccupation  of  the  Sudan,  and  the  affairs  in  that  country,  ruled 
as  it  was  by  fanatics,  gave  good  excuse  for  the  attempt.  Under 
General  Kitchener  an  army  of  British  and  Egyptian  troops  con¬ 
quered  the  land  and  the  Sudan  was  put  under  the  joint  control 
of  Great  Britain  and  Egypt  in  1899. 

681.  China;  “Boxer”  Insurrection.  1900.  —  In  still  another 
field,  foreign  affairs  claimed  close  attention  ;  this  time  in  China. 
A  war  between  China  and  Japan  (1894-1895)  resulted  in  the 
complete  success  of  Japan,  an  event  which  caused  the  rest  of  the 
world  to  recognize  that  a  new  and  strong  power  had  arisen  in  the 
East  which  would  have  to  be  reckoned  with  in  the  future.  ,  The 
revelation  of  the  strength  of  Japan  was  accompanied  by  the  dis¬ 
closure  of  China’s  inherent  weakness,  which  increased  the  tempta¬ 
tion  for  the  western  powers  to  deal  with  her  as  they  had  dealt 
with  Africa.  At  once  Russia,  Germany,  and  France  sought  to 
gain  in  China  “ spheres  of  influence”  from  which  in  the  future 
they  might  extend  their  power  and  possessions.  England,  and 
the  United  States,  who  now  began  to  take  an  active  part  in  the 
Far  East  supported  the  “  open  door  ”  as  it  was  called,  that  is,  that 
all  nations  alike  should  have  freedom  of  intercourse.  But  Russia 
entered  Manchuria  and  both  Germany  and  England  acquired 
ports  and  territory  within  the  Chinese  dominions. 

The  attempts  to  dismember  the  empire  led  to  what  is  known  as 


530 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


the  “  Boxer  Rising  ”  (1900).  There  seems  little  doubt  that  the 
Boxers  were  secretly  encouraged  by  the  Chinese  government.  For 
a  time  it  was  a  formidable  movement.  The  foreign  legations  were 
shut  up  in  Peking  and  attacked  by  the  Boxers,  and  for  several 
weeks  were  in  great  danger  and  distress.  At  last  they  were  re¬ 
lieved  by  an  international  army  composed  of  British,  American, 
French,  Russian,  and  Japanese  troops  under  a  German  oflicer. 
The  Chinese  government  finally  agreed  to  punish  the  Boxers 
and  pay  a  large  indemnity  to  the  foreigners.  The  integrity  of 
China  was  secured  by  treaty,  but  meanwhile  Manchuria  had  been 
seized  by  Russia,  an  action  which  was  to  lead  to  serious  results  for 
her. 

682;  General  Election,  <900;  Victoria’s  “Diamond  Jubilee,” 
1897;  her  Death,  1901.  —  In  September,  1900,  when  it  was  evident 
that  the  Boers  were  losing  ground,  the  cabinet  shrewdly  dissolved 
Parliament  and  ordered  a  general  election,  making  the  issue  the  con¬ 
tinuance  of  the  Boer  War  to  a  finish.  As  was  expected,  the 
Unionists  were  returned  with  a  majority  larger  than  would  have 
been  possible  six  months  later. 

In  1897  the  Diamond  Jubilee,  or  sixtieth  anniversary  of  the  ac¬ 
cession  of  Queen  Victoria,  was  celebrated  with  great  enthusiasm  by 
all  parties.  But  the  strain  of  many  years  and  the  great  anxiety 
about  the  war,  in  which  she  took  the  deepest  interest,  affected  her 
health  seriously,  and  on  January  22,  1901,  after  a  short  illness,  she 
died.  Her  domestic  virtues,  her  simplicity  of  life,  her  high  regard 
for  her  public  duties,  and  above  all,  in  recent  years,  the  feeling 
that  she  was  the  embodiment  of  the  empire,  gave  her  a  place  in  the 
hearts  of  her  subjects  which  no  other  English  monarch,  with  the 
possible  exception  of  Elizabeth,  ever  held.  Her  death  closed  the 
longest  reign  in  British  annals.^ 

683.  A  Review  of  the  Reign  of  Victoria.  1837-1901.  —  Dur¬ 
ing  no  reign  in  history  had  there  been  so  great  an  advance  in 

1  She  was  eighty-one  years  and  nearly  eight  months  old ;  her  reign  numbered 
sixty-three  years,  seven  months,  and  two  days. 


VICTORIA’S  REIGN 


531 


material  prosperity  or  in  invention.  Her  reign  saw  the  practical 
application  of  steam  to  railroad  transportation,  the  invention  of 
the  telegraph  and  its  vast  employment  in  commercial  and  social 
matters,  the  submarine  cable,  the  telephone,  an  enormous  number 
of  inventions  for  facilitating  every  kind  of  manufacture,  and  in¬ 
numerable  improvements  and  discoveries  in  every  field  that  re¬ 
lates  to  human  material  interests. 

In  the  social  world,  her  reign  saw  a  wonderful  advance  in  pre¬ 
ventive  as  well  as  remedial  legislation,  a  recognition  of  the  rights 
of  the  worker  such  as  had  not  been  known  before  ;  more  regard 
paid  to  the  rights  and  welfare  of  women  and  children ;  more 
efforts  made  to  better  the  condition  of  the  physically  and  morally 
unfortunate  or  helpless.  There  had  grown  up  a  higher  standard 
of  civilization,  there  was  less  coarseness  and  brutality,  and  a  fuller 
appreciation  of  the  claims  of  others.  Classes  were  less  exclusive, 
education  more  widely  diffused,  and  the  opportunities  for  acquir¬ 
ing  an  education  greatly  extended. 

In  politics  there  was  the  change  from  an  aristocratic  govern¬ 
ment  to  a  democratic  one,  and  an  enlargement  of  the  franchise 
from  being  the  privilege  of  a  few  to  practically  household  suffrage  ; 
there  was  the  continued  development  of  the  cabinet  system  of 
government,  until  the  cabinet  had  become  the  de  facto  ruler  of 
the  country ;  and  not  only  this,  but  a  literature  flourished  which 
in  extent  and  e.xcellence  is  comparable  only  to  that  of  the  reign 
of  Elizabeth. 

There  was,  however,  a  darker  side  to  the  picture.  Alongside 
of  the  growth  and  development  just  described,  there  was  much  to 
deplore.  The  condition  of  the  unskilled  worker  had  not  greatly 
improved  ;  wages  were  often  low  and  the  housing  insufficient  and 
unsanitary.  The  decline  of  agriculture  threw  many  out  of  em¬ 
ployment,  who  often  drifted  to  the  cities  and  towns  to  add  to  the 
problems  confronting  municipal  authorities  and  philanthropists. 
Intemperance  among  the  lower  classes  was  of  too  common  occur¬ 
rence,  resulting  in  the  increase  of  poverty,  ill  health,  and  crime. 


532 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


Frequent  disputes  between  capital  and  labor  had  brought  hard 
feeling,  suffering,  and  loss. 

But  if  there  was  acute  distress,  there  was  more  of  sensitiveness 
to  suffering  and  degradation.  “  Settlement  work,”  or  personal 
labor  in  connection  with  residence  among  the  needy,  was  entered 
into,  and  organized  efforts  to  better  conditions  were  widespread. 
Among  other  organizations  should  be  mentioned  the  Salvation 
Army,  with  its  thousands  of  adherents.^ 

References.  —  Gardiner,  Student's  History,  chap.  Ivii,  §  lo-chap.  lx  (1885)  ; 
Terry,  History,  Part  IV,  chap,  vii,  p.  999-chap,  ix  (1901);  Tout,  Advanced 
History,  Book  VIII,  chaps,  iii-viii  (1901);  Adams  and  Stephens,  Select 
Documents,  §§  266-276;  Traill,  Social  England,  vol.  VI,  chaps,  xxii-xxiv; 
Cheyney,  Readings,  chap,  xix,  §§  v-xx;  Kendall,  Source-Book,  §§  131-151; 
Lee,  Source-Book,  §§  221-235. 


Descendants  of  Victoria 

Victoria 

1837-1901 

=  Prince  Albert  of  Saxe-Coburg-Gotha 
d.  1861 

I 


Victoria 
=  Frederick 
III 

Emperor  of 
Germany  = 


William  II 
Emperor  of 
Germany 


Albert  Victor 
d.  1892 


(Albert)  Alice  Alfred  Helen  Louise  Arthur  Leopold  Beatrice 
Edward  =  Grand  D.  =  Prince  =  Duke  D.  D.  Albany 
VII  Duke  Edin-  Christian  of  Con-  =  Helene 
1901-1910  Hesse  burgh  Argyll  naught 

=  Alexandra  =  Marie  =  Louise  =  Henry  of 

of  Denmark  of  Prussia  of  Prussia  Battenberg 

succeeded  to  Duchy 

Saxe-Coburg-Gotha  - 

Charles  Edward 
sue.  Duchy  of 
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha 


George  V 
1910- 

=  Princess 

(Victoria)  Mary  of  Teck 


Victoria  Ena 
:  Alphonso  XIII 
King  of  Spain 


Edward  Albert 
b.  1894 


Albert 
b.  1895 


I 

Victoria 
b.  1897 


Henry 
b.  1900 


George 
b.  1902 


John 
b.  1905 


*  This  religious  and  philanthropic  organization  was  begun  (1878)  by  William 
Booth,  a  Methodist  minister,  and  his  wife,  Catharine  Booth.  It  is,  as  its  name  im¬ 
plies,  organized  on  military  lines.  Its  chief  object  is  to  reach  those  who  are  not 
reached  by  other  religious  bodies,  to  bring  reform  and  betterment  in  their  spiritual 
and  physical  conditions,  and  their  surroundings.  General  Booth  died  in  1912. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 


LATEST  YEARS 

684.  Edward  VII,  1901.  —  On  the  death  of  Victoria,  the  Prince 
of  Wales  was  proclaimed  as  Edward  VII,  and  in  the  same  year 
an  act  of  Parliament  made  his  legal  title  “  Edward  VII  by  the 
grace  of  God,  of  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland, 
and  of  all  the  British  Dominions  beyond  the  Seas,  King,  Defender 
of  the  Faith,  Emperor  of  India  ”  ;  the  imperialism  of  Disraeli  and 
of  Victoria  became  a  legal  fact. 

Edward  VII  was  about  sixty  years  old,  and  his  opportunities  for 
watching  the  course  of  public  opinion  had  been  ample,  though  Queen 
Victoria,  with  something  akin  to  pettiness,  had  allowed  him  to  take 
little  or  no  part  in  public  affairs  other  than  social.  At  the  time  of 
his  accession  he  declared  that  he  would  rule  “  as  a  constitutional 
sovereign  in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  word.”  Though  many  felt 
considerable  apprehension  at  the  time  of  his  coming  to  the  throne, 
his  unfailing  tact  and  evident  desire  to  rule  as  a  strictly  consti¬ 
tutional  monarch  soon  dissipated  such  feeling,  and  a  severe  illness 
which  postponed  his  coronation  aroused  much  sympathy  and  even 
affection.^ 

685.  Resignation  of  Salisbury  ;  Balfour,  Prime  Minister,  1902  j 
Treaty  with  Japan.  —  Lord  Salisbury  continued  to  be  prime  min¬ 
ister  until  1902,  when  owing  to  failing  health  he  resigned  and  was 
succeeded  by  his  nephew,  Arthur  J.  Balfour,  who  had  been  for 
some  years  the  Unionist  leader  in  the  House  of  Commons.  In 
foreign  affairs  all  difficulties  with  France  were  settled,  including 
the  Egyptian  question,  England  continuing  her  occupation  of 
Egypt.  An  agreement  was  also  made  with  Japan.  In  1904  a 

'  It  was  not  until  August  9,  1902,  that  he  was  crowned,  and  on  January  i,  1903, 
he  was  formally  proclaimed  Emperor  of  India  at  Delhi. 

533 


534 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


war  broke  out  between  Japan  and  Russia,  caused  nominally  by 
Russia  encroaching  upon  Korea,  which  was  under  the  control  of 
Japan.  To  the  astonishment  of  Russia  and  of  most  nations  Japan 
was  victorious,  and  Russia  was  forced  to  relinquish  Manchuria  and 
to  allow  Japan  to  retain  the  strong  position  of  Port  Arthur.  After 
the  war  Great  Britain  made  a  treaty  with  Japan  (1905),  each  gov¬ 
ernment  agreeing  to  support  the  other  in  maintaining  the  existing 
conditions  in  the  East. 

686.  Education  6111,1902;  Irish  Land  Act,  1903;  Aliens  Act, 
1905.  —  Home  measures  were  not  the  least  important.  A  new 
Education  Act  was  passed  (1902),  which  remodeled  the  whole 
system  of  national  education.  The  Forster  Bill  of  1870  (§  657) 
had  provided  for  little  beyond  primary  grades ;  the  new  act  re¬ 
lated  to  higher  grades  as  well.  By  the  provisions  of  the  Bill  the 
control  of  the  schools  was  given  to  county  councils,  and  it  ex¬ 
tended  the  benefit  of  the  rates  (taxes)  to  the  Church  of  England 
schools,  and  gave  to  the  church  the  appointment  of  the  teachers  and 
the  control  of  the  religious  instruction.  The  Education  Bill  was  bit¬ 
terly  opposed  by  the  Nonconformists,  who  resented  the  application 
of  public  funds  to  sectarian  education.^  In  the  next  year  (1903) 
was  passed  another  Irish  Land  Act,  which  made  it  possible  for 
tenants  to  purchase  their  farms.  Based  on  Gladstone’s  Act  of 
1870  (§  657)  and  succeeding  Acts,  it  at  once  justified  his  efforts 
and  promoted  the  cause  of  order  in  Ireland  by  striking  at  the 
very  root  of  the  trouble  —  the  land  question.  Another  important 
measure  was  the  Aliens  Act  (1905),  which  regulated  the  admission 
of  foreigners  to  the  country,  and  was  designed  to  keep  out  un¬ 
desirable  “  immigrants.” 

687.  Weakness  of  the  Unionists ;  Resignation  of  Balfour, 
1905.  —  The  Unionists  had  now  had  a  long  lease  of  power, 

1  So  deeply  did  many  Nonconformists  feel  regarding  this  measure  that  they  re¬ 
fused  ,to  pay  the  amount  of  taxes  levied  for  this  purpose,  preferring  to  have  their 
furniture  or  goods  distrained,  or  to  suffer  imprisonment,  rather  than  submit  to 
what  they  believed  to  be  an  infringement  on  their  rights.  Such  an  amount  of  pas¬ 
sive  resistance  had  not  been  seen  in  England  since  the  seventeenth  century. 


REIGN  OF  EDWARD  VII 


535 


the  country  was  beginning  to  desire  a  change,  the  Nonconformists 
were  irritated  over  the  Education  Bill,  and  the  Unionists  were 
themselves  becoming  divided  upon  economic  questions. 

In  1903  Mr.  Chamberlain,  who  had  been  colonial  secretary, 
resigned  from  the  ministry  because  he  favored  what  began  to  be 
called  “  fair  trade,” 
that  is,  a  modified 
form  of  protection. 

The  cabinet  tried 
to  hold  a  middle 
course,  while  prom- 
inent  men  re¬ 
mained  true  to 
their  old  principle 
of  free  trade.  This 
division  weakened 
the  Unionist  party 
greatly.  Moreover, 
the  government 
had  allowed  the  in¬ 
troduction  of  “  in¬ 
dentured  ”  laborers  ^ 

Edward  VII 

from  China  to  work 

in  the  mines  of  the  Transvaal,  a  course  which  the  Liberals  claimed 
was  little  short  of  slavery.*  Above  all,  was  the  bitter  opposition 
of  the  Nonconformists  to  the  Education  Bill  of  igo2. 

At  length  Mr.  Balfour  resigned,  in  December,  1905,  and  the 
Liberal  leader.  Sir  Henry  Campbell-Bannerman,  became  Prime 
Minister. 

688.  General  Election  of  1906;  Great  Liberal  Victory,  1906. 
—  A  general  election  was  held  in  January  and  February,  1906,  and 
the  opposition  gained  a  majority  of  358,  unequalled  even  by  the  great 


1  The  laborers  were  bound  by  an  indenture  or  agreement  to  remain  in  the 
country  three  years,  at  the  expiration  of  which  they  were  to  return  to  China. 


536 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


majority  in  1832  ‘  (§  620).  One  of  the  most  significant  features  of 
this  Parliament  was  the  group  of  about  fifty  members  who  repre¬ 
sented  the  laboring  class.  This  group  is  known  as  the  Labor  Party.^ 

689.  Reform  Measures;  Asquith,  Prime  Minister.  1908. — 
Early  in  1908  Sir  Henry  Campbell-Bannerman  was  compelled,  on 
account  of  ill  health,  to  resign  as  prime  minister  (April  6).®  The 
king  summoned  Mr.  Henry  Herbert  Asquith,  the  chancellor  of 
the  exchequer.  Among  the  members  of  Mr.  Asquith’s  cabinet 
were  David  Lloyd  George,  Winston  Churchill,  Reginald  McKenna, 
and  Lord  Crewe. 

Some  of  the  greater  measures  undertaken  by  the  Liberal  Cabinet 
were  ;  an  Old  Age  Pension  Bdl,  an  Education  Bill  to  remedy 
the  grievances  complained  of  by  the  Nonconformists  (§  686),  and 
a  Licensing  Bill  to  reform  the  laws  relating  to  the  sale  of  intoxi¬ 
cating  liquors.  Of  these  the  first  was  passed  by  both  houses  and 
became  a  law  ( 1 908) .  The  Education  Bill  was  withdrawn,  it  being 
found  impossible  to  satisfy  all  parties ;  and  the  Licensing  Bill  was 
thrown  out  by  the  House  of  Lords.  This  action  of  the  Lords, 
who,  it  was  charged,  defeated  the  bill  on  account  of  their  large 
financial  interests  in  the  matter,  aroused  great  feeling  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  and  demands  were  made  for  some  curtailment  of 
the  powers  of  the  hereditary  House. 

690.  The  Finance  Bill  and  the  Lords.  1909.  —  The  question 
between  the  Commons  and  the  Lords  was  brought  to  an  issue  by 
the  Finance  Bill  or  Budget^  of  1909,  introduced  by  David  Lloyd 
George,  chancellor  of  the  exchequer.  In  order  to  raise  the  large 
amounts  needed  for  old  age  pensions,  and  for  the  construction  of 
powerful  battleships  believed  to  be  needful  for  the  national 

1  The  Unionists  numbered  156;  the  Liberals,  378;  the  Irish  Nationalists,  83; 
and  the  Labor  Party,  53.  On  most  questions  the  Liberals  could  command  nearly 
the  whole  of  the  great  opposition  majority,  and  had  a  majority  of  86  over  all  others. 

2  Their  expenses  were  paid  by  contributions  from  the  workingmen  and  labor 

organizations.  2  Sir  Henry  Campbell-Bannerman  died  on  April  22,  1908. 

^  The  estimates  of  the  expenses  of  the  government  for  the  succeeding  year,  in¬ 
cluding  the  methods  by  which  the  necessary  amount  is  proposed  to  be  raised,  are 
called  “  The  Budget." 


CONTEST  BETWEEN  LORDS  AND  COMMONS 


537 


defense,  in  addition  to  the  ordinary  expenses  of  administration, 
Mr.  Lloyd  George  proposed  a  large  increase  in  the  taxation  of 
land,  especially  in  and  near  cities  and  towns,  and  on  mineral 
lands.  This  proposition  involved  a  new  valuation  of  lands  for  the 
basis  of  taxation,^  a  new  Domesday  Book,  as  it  were  (§  47). 

This  measure  aroused  a  storm 
of  protest  in  the  House  of 
Lords,  as  that  House  contained 
the  largest  and  wealthiest  land¬ 
holders  in  the  kingdom.  Con¬ 
trary  to  precedent,  the  Lords 
rejected^  the  bill  (November 
22,  1909)  by  a  vote  of  350  to 
75  :  the  reason  being  given 
that  this  bill  would  lead  to  the 
confiscation  of  landed  prop¬ 
erty;  was  in  itself  unjust;  es¬ 
tablished  new  principles  of  tax¬ 
ation  ;  and  therefore  it  should 
be  “  submitted  to  the  judgment 
of  the  country." 

The  House  of  Commons,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Asquith,  passed  a 
resolution  of  protest  by  a  majority  of  215.  A  few  days  later  Par¬ 
liament  was  dissolved. 

691.  Contest  between  Lords  and  Commons.  —  At  the  general 
election  (January,  February,  1910)  the  Liberals  were  returned 
with  a  majority,  but  greatly  reduced,  and  one  dependent  upon  the 
Nationalist  and  Labor  votes.  Under  the  existing  law,  the  fran¬ 
chise  is  to  a  large  extent  based  on  land,  therefore  a  man  owning 


David  Lloyd  George 


'  The  last  valuation  of  land  had  been  made  in  1692. 

2  By  long-established  precedent  the  Lords  do  not  have  the  right  to  reject  money 
bills.  The  Marquis  of  Salisbury  said  in  1894  that  the  reason  why  the  House  of  Lords 
could  not  reject  or  amend  a  money  bill  is,  "  That  it  has  not  the  power  of  changing 
the  executive  government,  and  to  reject  a  finance  bill  and  leave  the  executive  gov¬ 
ernment  in  its  place  means  to  create  a  deadlock  from  which  there  is  no  escape." 


538 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


land  in  different  election  districts  may  have  several  votes ;  this  is 
called  “  plural  voting.”  As  the  large  landholders  are  mostly  Con¬ 
servatives,  the  law  works  in  their  favor ;  indeed,  the  Liberals 
claim,  and  probably  with  justice,  that  were  it  not  for  “  plural  vot¬ 
ing,”  their  majority  in  the  Commons  would  be  considerably  larger. 

The  budget  was  again  passed  by  the  Commons,  and  subse¬ 
quently  passed  by  the  Lords  (1910)  with  great  reluctance,  for  they 
were  convinced  that  the  government  would  either  order  a  new 
election  or  ask  the  king  to  create  a  sufficient  number  of  Liberal 
peers  to  pass  the  measure. 

The  Liberals  now  proceeded  to  frame  a  bill  to  limit  the  powers 
of  the  Lords,  and  in  a  few  days  the  Parliament  Bill,  or  “Veto 
Act,”  was  presented  to  the  House.  Of  this  very  important  act 
the  essential  features  are;  (i)  The  House  of  Lords  shall  not 
have  the  power  to  amend  or  reject  Money  Bills ;  ^  (2)  any 
Public  Bill  (other  than  a  Money  Bill  or  a  bill  extending  the  dura¬ 
tion  of  Parliament  longer  than  five  years)  “  when  passed  by  the 
House  of  Commons  in  three  successive  sessions  (whether  of  the 
same  Parliament  or  not)  over  a  period  of  not.  less  than  two  years 
shall  become  a  law  notwithstanding  the  rejection  by  the  House  of 
Lords  ;  ”  (3)  “  Five  years  shall  be  substituted  for  seven  years  as 
the  time  fixed  for  the  maximum  of  Parliament  under  the  Septen¬ 
nial  Act  of  1715  ”  (§  526).  The  Liberals  justly  claimed  that  as  a 
large  majority  of  the  Lords  was  always  Conservative,  important 
bills  passed  by  a  Liberal  House  of  Commons  were  either  turned 
down  or  radically  amended,  the  practical  result  being  that  the 
hereditary  House  controlled  legislation.  In  other  words  that  Parlia¬ 
ment  was  virtually  a  single  house  when  the  Conservatives  were  in 
power,  and  a  bicameral  one  only  when  the  Liberals  had  a  majority 
in  the  Commons. 

692.  Death  of  Edward  VII ;  Conference ;  Second  General 
Election.  1910. — The  debate  on  the  Parliament  Bill  had  hardly 

1  The  speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons  is  to  decide  what  is  a  Money  Bill  in 
accordance  with  a  definition  of  a  Money  Bill  as  given  in  the  Parliament  Bill  itself 


PARLIAMENTARY  REFORMS 


539 


begun  when  King  Edward  died  after  a  very  brief  illness  (§  697). 
By  common  consent  discussion  was  suspended  until  after  the  new 
king  was  fairly  settled  on  his  throne. 

During  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1910  an  informal  conference 
of  the  leading  members  of  both  the  great  parties  held  many  ses¬ 
sions  in  hopes  of  reaching  some  agreement  upon  the  matter  of 
restricting  the  power  of  the  House  of  Lords,  but  without  avail. 

The  Lords,  fearing  serious  curtailment  of  their  powers,  consid¬ 
ered  several  schemes  of  reform,  the  most  notable  being  that  of 
Lord  Lansdowne,  the  Conservative  leader.  But  all  this  came  to 
naught  through  the  dissolution  of  Parliament  (November  28). 

693.  Liberal  Success;  Parliament  Bill;  Payment  of  Members. 
1911.  —  At  the  general  election,  which  took  place  in  a  few  weeks, 
the  Liberals  were  again  returned  to  power  with  almost  exactly  the 
same  majority.  They  had  thus  been  successful  in  three  consecutive 
general  elections,  an  unprecedented  occurrence  in  British  history 

As  soon  as  practicable  the  Parliament  Bill  was  again  introduced, 
and  after  much  discussion  passed  ^  (May  15,  19 1 1).  In  the  House 
of  Lords  the  bill  was  debated  and,  with  amendments  attached,  re¬ 
turned  to  the  Commons.  Meanwhile  Mr.  Asquith  let  it  be  known 
that  King  George  had  agreed  to  exercise  his  prerogative  and  create 
enough  new  peers  to  pass  the  bill  substantially  in  the  form  it  had 
left  the  Commons.  Thus  the  situation  of  1832  was  repeated,  and 
the  Lords  had  to  face  the  alternative  of  the  creation  of  five  hundred 
new  peers  or  pass  the  bill.  When  the  amendments  of  the  Lords 
came  up  for  discussion  in  the  Commons,  such  a  scene  of  con¬ 
fusion  followed  that  the  speaker  was  compelled  to  adjourn  the 
House.  The  bill  was  returned  to  the  Lords  who  were  now 
compelled  to  meet  the  issue.  So  strong  was  the  feeling  that 
it  was  for  some  time  doubtful  whether  the  Lords  would  yield. 
Finally  the  Government  leader,  Lord  Morley,  stated  that  enough 
peers  would  be  created  to  carry  the  measure.  Upon  this  the  bill 
was  passed  by  a  vote  of  131  to  114,  or  a  majority  of  seventeen, 

^The  vote  was  362  to  241,  or  nearly  the  full  government  majority. 


540 


HISTORY  OF  ENOLAMD 


August  lo,  19 1 1.  Thus  was  passed  one  of  the  most  far-reaching 
constitutional  measures  in  English  political  history.^ 

The  same  day  (August  10)  the  House  of  Commons  agreed  to  a 
provision  for  the  payment  of  members  of  Parliament,  the  amount 
fixed  upon  being  ^^400  per  annum. 

694.  National  Insurance  Bill;  Woman  Suffrage;  “Suffra¬ 
gettes.” —  The  next  important  measure  brought  before  Parliament 
was  a  National  Insurance  Bill  against  unemployment  and  ill-health. 
This  was  accepted  in  principle  by  all  parties  —  but  there  was  a 
great  difference  of  opinion  as  to  details.  The  bill,  an  exceedingly 
complicated  one,  bristling  with  details,  raised  great  opposition,  but 
Mr.  Lloyd  George  was  successful  in  carrying  the  bill,  and  it  was 
also  passed  by  the  Lords"  (December  14,  19 n). 

The  cause  of  woman  suffrage  had  been  growing  in  importance 
for  some  time  and  various  bills  proposing  to  grant  the  suffrage  to 
women  had  been  introduced  into  Parliament.  The  most  im¬ 
portant  of  these  was  a  bill  introduced  in  May,  1911.  It  was  made 
a  non-party  measure,  and  was  debated  and  voted  upon  regardless 
of  party  lines.® 

A  division  of  the  women  suffragists  held  radical  opinions  and 
were  known,  colloquially,  as  “  Suffragettes.”  These  women  insisted 
that  the  matter  should  be  made  a  government  measure,  and  to 
secure  this  resorted  to  all  kinds  of  forcible  measures  :  attempting 
to  thrust  themselves  into  the  Parliament  chamber,  assaulting 

1  Most  of  the  Opposition  peers  abstained  from  voting  ;  thirty-seven  Unionists 
voted  with  the  government,  believing  that  only  by  passing  the  bill  could  they  avoid 
“  the  intrusion  of  500  '  mushroom  ’  peers.”  The  vote  justified  their  action.  Lord 
Morley  read  his  carefully  prepared  statement,  “  If  the  Bill  should  be  defeated  to¬ 
night,  his  majesty  would  assent  to  the  creation  of  peers  sufficient  in  numbers  to 
guard  against  any  combination  of  the  different  parties  in  the  Opposition  by  which 
the  Government  Bill  might  again  be  exposed  to  defeat." 

2  The  provisions  relate  to  the  working  classes,  and  the  purpose  is  to  insure  them 
against  ill  health  and  unemployment.  The  expense  is  to  be  borne  partly  by  regular 
contributions  by  the  workers  themselves,  partly  by  employers,  and  partly  by  the 
nation/ 

8  The  bill  was  read  a  second  time  by  a  vote  of  255  to  88,  but  was  then  dropped. 
The  great  object  of  the  suffragists  is  to  gain  the  right  to  vote  for  Members  of  Parlia¬ 
ment  ;  they  already  have  a  limited  local  suffrage. 


STRIKES 


541 


members  of  the  cabinet,  particularly  the  Prime  Minister,  break¬ 
ing  windows  in  the  official  residences,  and  other  acts  of  violence. 
Not  content  with  these  demonstrations,  organized  bands  of  women, 
in  1912  and  1913,  broke  the  windows  of  shops  and  residences  regard¬ 
less  of  who  owned  them,  poured  acid  into  letter-boxes,  and  set  fire 


Interior  of  the  House  of  Commons 

to  buildings.  Numbers  were  arrested,  convicted  of  conspiracy,  and 
sentenced  to  imprisonment.^ 

695.  Strikes.  1910-1912. — The  years  1910-1912  were  marked 
by  extensive  labor  troubles  and  strikes,  causing  great  apprehension, 
some  loss  of  life,  and  severe  money  losses.  The  questions  at 
issue  were  principally  matters  relating  to  agreements.  The  great 
railway  strike  of  1 9 1 1  was  one  of  the  most  serious  strikes  on 
record,  involving  as  it  did  the  food  supplies  of  the  towns  and 
great  cities  and,  indeed,  of  the  nation.  The  strike  began  with  the 
dock  laborers  in  London  on  a  question  of  wages,  and  spread  to 

1  The  defense  made  by  these  militant  suffragists  was,  that  only  in  this  way  could 
the  matter  be  forced  upon  the  government.  By  far  the  greater  number  of  women 
in  favor  of  the  suffrage  for  women  disavowed  these  lawless  proceedings. 


542 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


the  railway  employees.  The  government,  in  order  to  insure 
supplies  of  food,  used  force,  and  managed  by  the  aid  of  non¬ 
union  men  to  keep  some  railway  service  in  operation.^  That  the 
men  had  grievances  was  not  denied,  but  the  methods  employed 
by  them  were  severely  criticized. 

Another  strike,  scarcely  less  grave  than  that  of  the  railway  men, 
was  that  of  the  coal  miners  (19 12).  Beginning  with  a  comparatively 
trifling  occurrence,  it  spread  until  nearly  every  coal-mining  company 
in  the  kingdom  was  affected,  and  the  mining  of  coal  ceased. 
Ocean  steamers  were  held  up,  railway  and  steam  traffic  suspended, 
factories  stopped,  and  household  supplies  cut  off".  Efforts  at  con¬ 
ciliation  were  fruitless,  and  finally  Parliament  in  great  haste  passed 
a  “  Minimum  Wage  Bill  ”  (1912),  by  the  terms  of  which  boards  or 
committees  were  provided  which  should  determine  a  “  minimum 
wage  ”  or  the  lowest  limit  to  which  wages  should  fall.  Soon  after 
this,  work  in  the  mines  was  resumed.  Later  another  strike  of 
dock  laborers  took  place. 

696.  Union  of  South  Africa.  1910.  —  By  the  South  African  Act 
of  1909  practical  self-government  was  granted  to  the  colonies  of 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  Natal,  the  Transvaal,  the  Orange  River 
Colony,  under  the  title  of  the  Union  of  South  Africa.  Under  this 
act  the  governor  is  appointed  by  the  crown  and  the  legislature  is 
elective,  and  there  is  a  system  of  cabinet  responsibility  as  in 
Canada,  Australia,  and  New  Zealand.  The  new  Union  was  begun 
in  1910  (May  31).  Lord  Gladstone^  was  appointed  governor,  and 
Louis  Botha,  perhaps  the  most  prominent  Boer  general  in  the 
South  African  vyar,  was  chosen  prime  minister.  Such  confidence 
reposed  in  late  enemies  has  rarely  been  seen,  and  so  far  events 
have  justified  it. 

^  This  strike  was  chiefly  what  is  known  as  a  “  sympathetic  strike,"  as  well  as  one 
to  compel  the  “  recognition  ”  of  the  unions  by  the  companies  involved. 

2  Lord  Gladstone  (Herbert  John  Gladstone)  is  a  son  of  the  late  William  E. 
Gladstone.  One  of  the  great  problems  in  South  Africa  is  the  race  question.  By 
the  laws  of  the  Act  of  Union  only  persons  of  European  descent  can  sit  in  the  legis¬ 
lative  assemblies. 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  V 


543 


697.  George  V;  Queen  Mary;  Accession  Declaration.  1910- 
1912.  — At  the  death  of  Edward  VII  (May  6,  1910),  his  second 
son  George^  succeeded  and  was  proclaimed  King  George  V 
(May  9).  He  was  born  on  June  3,  1865.  He  was  educated  as  a 
naval  officer,  spending  a  number  of  years  at  sea.  In  his  extensive 
travels  the  prince 
made  a  good  impres¬ 
sion.  In  1893  he 
married  Princess  Mary 
of  Teck  (“  Princess 
May”)  a  grand¬ 
daughter  of  Queen 
Victoria’s  uncle,  the 
Duke  of  Cambridge, 
sixth  son  of  George 
111.'= 

After  much  discus¬ 
sion  both  in  and  out  of 
Parliament,  the  Acces¬ 
sion  Declaration  Act 
was  passed  (August  3, 

1910)  which  very  con¬ 
siderably  modifies  the 

George  V 

declaration  as  stated 

in  the  Bill  of  Rights  (§  485).  By  the  terms  of  this  Act,  a  new 
monarch  is  simply  required  to  declare  that  he  is  a  Protestant  and 
that  he  will  maintain  Protestantism,  without  insisting  upon  a 
definition. 

King  George  and  Queen  Mary  were  crowned  in  Westminster 
Abbey,  June  22,  1911,  with  great  display.  On  December  12,  191 1, 
their  majesties  were  also  crowned  at  Delhi,  India.  The  cele- 

1  His  elder  brother,  Albert,  Duke  of  Clarence,  died  unmarried  in  1892. 

2  As  Queen  Mary  she  is  the  first  British-born  royal  consort  since  Katherine  Parr, 
wife  of  Henry  VIII. 


544 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


bration  at  Delhi,  called  the  Durbar,  was  observed  with  great 
magnificence. 

698.  Recent  Events.  1911-1912.  —  The  years  1911  and  1912 
were  years  of  great  unrest  almost  everywhere.  In  191 1  a  revolt  in 
Morocco  led  the  sultan  of  that  country  to  appeal  for  aid  to  France. 
A  military  force  was  sent  in  response,  and  as  a  result  the  interests 
of  Spain,  Germany,  and  England  were  believed  to  be  involved,  and 
war  seemed  to  be  imminent.  Largely  through  the  firmness  of  the 
British  government  war  was  averted.  By  agreement  (1911)  a 
virtual  French  protectorate  of  Morocco  was  agreed  to,  Germany 
receiving  certain  privileges  in  Morocco,  and  large  territory  in 
French  Congo  from  France  in  return  for  her  acquiescence  in  the 
plan. 

Almost  immediately  after  the  Moioccan  difficulty,  Italy  began  a 
war  against  Turkey  nominally  over  matters  connected  with  troubles 
in  Tripoli,  but  really  for  the  extension  of  Italian  control  in  North 
Africa. 

In  China  an  open  rebellion  against  the  Manchu  Dynasty  broke 
out,  and  in  1912  a  Chinese  Republic  was  set  up.  Through  all 
this,  including  troubles  in  Persia,  the  English  government  was 
able  to  keep  out  of  war. 

Negotiations  with  the  United  States  led  to  the  signing  of  a 
Treaty  of  Peace  and  Arbitration  providing  for  the  submission  to 
arbitration  of  almost  all  differences  that  might  arise.  This  treaty 
failed  of  confirmation  in  the  United  States  Senate  by  a  small 
vote.' 

An  Irish  Home  Rule  Bill  was  under  discussion  in  the  House  of 
Commons  during  the  sessions  of  19 1 2,  and  was  passed  on  January  16, 
1913,  by  a  majority  of  no.  The  Bill  was  sent  at  once  to  the 
Lords,  who  rejected  it  by  a  majority  of  257.  Under  the  Veto  Act 
(§  691)  if  the  House  of  Commons  repasses  the  Bill  in  each  of 

'  Tht  reason  given  was  that  the  terms  of  the  treaty  infringed  upon  the  constitu- 
tional  rights  of  the  Senate,  but  it  was  generally  thought  that  political  feeling  was 
responsible  for  the  failure  of  this  effort  after  peaceful  means  of  settling  differences. 


CONCLUSION  545 

three  successive  sessions  within  not  less  than  two  years,  the  Bill 
will  become  a  law  notwithstanding  the  objection  of  the  Lords. 

Another  important  Act  which  gave  rise  to  a  long  debate  in  the 
Commons  was  that  providing  for  the  disestablishment  of  the  Church 
in  Wales.^  The  Bill  finally  passed  the  House,  February  5,  1913, 
by  a  majority  of  107.  It  was  rejected  by  the  Lords  by  a  majority 
of  201. 

699.  Conclusion.  —  By  the  census  of  1911  Great  Britain  rules, 
or  rather  controls,  a  population  of  about  420,000,000.  No  other 
government  in  history  has  controlled  so  many  or  so  diverse  peo¬ 
ples.^  The  logical  result  has  been  the  granting  of  more  and  more 
power  to  the  over-seas  possessions  until  almost  all  British  colonies, 
with  the  exception  of  India  and  some  of  the  islands,  are  self-ruled 
or  nearly  so,  the  tie  binding  them  to  Great  Britain  being  very 
much  of  a  sentimental  one.  Within  the  United  Kingdom  itself 
there  is  a  steady  tendency  toward  a  more  complete  democracy,  or 
as  many  would  say,  a  socialistic  government.  Certainly  the  Old 
Age  Pension  Bill,  the  National  Insurance  Bill,  the  Minimum  Wage 
Bill,  to  mention  no  others,  are  all  measures  which  less  than  fifty 
years  ago  would  have  been  looked  upon  with  serious  apprehen¬ 
sion  by  most  thoughtful  men.  That  a  share  in  the  exercise  of 
civil  and  political  power  will  be  extended  to  all  sorts  and  condi¬ 
tions  of  men  seems  to  be  the  legitimate  outcome  ;  to  prepare  the 
community  for  this  by  education  and  wise  legislation  is  perhaps 
the  most  important  social  and  political  mission  of  the  present  day. 

1  Members  of  the  Church  of  England  form  a  very  small  proportion  of  the  popu¬ 
lation  of  Wales. 

2  China  has,  according  to  Chinese  estimates,  a  population  of  433,553,000,  but 
careful  authorities  believe  this  to  be  much  beyond  the  actual  numbers,  which  some 
place  as  less  than  300,000,000. 


546 


HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


London  Bridge  in  1900 


APPENDIX  I 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE  TO  1648 

CHAPTER  I 

1.  The  Roman  Empire  in  the  Fourth  Century.  —  The  Roman 
Empire  *  reached  its  greatest  extent  in  the  fourth  century.  Its 
expanse  of  territory  was  populated  by  a  great  variety  of  races. 
All  these  peoples  had  essentially  the  same  law,  were  taxed  by  the 
same  power,  and  recognized  the  same  head.  That  this  great  em¬ 
pire  should  have  held  together  as  long  as  it  did  is  due  to  several 
causes,  among  them,  (i)  the  admirable  system  of  organization 
which  extended  to  every  part  of  the  realm  ;  (2)  the  excellent  roads 
which  made  communication  easy  and  rapid  ;  (3)  the  system  of 
Roman  law;  (4)  the  deification  of  the  Roman  emperor,  making 
him  the  personal  embodiment  of  the  state ;  (5)  the  uniform  coin¬ 
age  ;  (6)  the  well-drilled  and,  in  the  earlier  days,  efficient  army, 
which  enforced  respect  and  obedience.^  < 

2.  The  Barbarians.  —  Outside  the  bounds  of  the  Empire,  north 
and  east,  there  lived  many  peoples  whom  the  Romans  called  by 
the  name  of  Barbarians.*  Little  is  known  of  the  history  or  the 
condition  of  these,  for  they  had  no  literature  or  records.  They 
had  no  cities,  and  their  chief  occupations  were  warlike  and  pas- 

1  It  comprised  all  Europe  south  of  the  Rhine  and  the  Danube,  Asia  Minor 
and  Asia  eastward  to  a  line  drawn  nearly  south  from  the  Caspian  Sea  to  the  des¬ 
ert  of  Arabia,  Syria,  Egypt,  and  the  southern  coast  of  the  Mediterranean,  extend¬ 
ing  considerable  distance  inland. 

2  The  very  e.xtent  of  the  empire  led  to  its  division  (a.d.  293)  into  the  East¬ 
ern  and  Western  Empires,  divided  by  the  Adriatic  Sea.  Theoretically  it  was 
still  the  Roman  Empire,  and  was,  now  and  then,  united  under  a  strong  emperor. 
The  division  became  permanent  at  the  death  of  Theodosius,  a.d.  395. 

®  The  chief  Teutonic  nations  were:  the  Goths,  divided  into  Ostrogoths  (East 
Goths),  and  Visigoths  (West  Goths) ;  Franks;  Saxons;  Vandals;  Burgundians; 
Alemanni;  Langobards;  Normans.  Of  the  Tartars  or  Mongols,  the  Huns  were 
the  great  representatives,  and  later  the  Ottoman  Turks. 

547 


548 


APPENDIX  1 


toral.  Every  man  was  a  warrior,  always  armed  and  ready  to  fight. 
They  were  divided  into  tribes,  often  fighting  with  each  other.^ 

As  the  population  increased  more  land  was  needed.*  A  tribe 
or  a  whole  nation  would  emigrate  ;  those  living  near  the  bounds 
of  the  Empire  would  cross  the  line  and  demand,  or  attempt  to 
seize,  territory.  Many  of  the  barbarians  living  along  the  boundary 
would  become  well  acquainted  with  Roman  ways,  visit  Roman 
cities,  enter  the  service  of  the  Roman  state,  and  later  carry  back 
to  their  old  homes  information  of  Roman  civilization. 

Besides  these  attractions,  a  great  force  was  impelling  these 
barbarians  from  behind.  North  and  east  of  the  Teutonic  tribes 
were  hordes  of  Slavs,  and  Mongols  or  Tartars,  who  were  pushing 
forward  and  striving  to  obtain  lands  and  plunder. 

3.  Invasions  of  the  Barbarians.  —  In  375  a.d.  the  Visigoths,  a 
Teutonic  tribe,  fleeing  before  the  savage  Huns,  a  Tartar  tribe, 
asked  permission  to  cross  the  Danube  and  reside  within  the 
bounds  of  the  empire.  These  Goths  were  already  Christians 
and  it  did  not  seem  an  unreasonable  request,  or  a  dangerous 
experiment.  After  considerable  negotiation  they  were  admitted. 
But,  chiefly  through  the  acts  of  untrustworthy  Roman  officials, 
they  were  angered.  War  broke  out,  and  at  Adrianople  (378) 
Valens,  the  emperor  of  the  Eastern  Empire,  was  defeated  and 
slain.  The  importance  of  this  battle  lies  in  the  fact  that  it 
showed  that  the  imperial  armies  were  not  invincible.  The  bar¬ 
barians  had  got  well  within  the  empire,  and  never  went  out. 

Under  the  able  Theodosius  (379-395)  the  empire  was  united 
under  one  head  and  regained  somewhat  of  its  ancient  prestige, 
but  the  tendencies  toward  decay  were  scarcely  checked ;  they 
were  too  deeply  seated  to  be  removed. 

4.  Causes  of  the  Decay  of  the  Roman  Empire.  —  Some  of  the 
causes  of  this  decay  and  weakness  were:  (i)  The  great  increase 
of  slavery  and  a  class  resembling  serfs  {Coloni),^  and  the  conse- 

r  The  Germania  of  Tacitus  is  our  chief  authority  for  the  history  and  customs 
of  the  Teutonic  tribes. 

2  A  people  that  lives  by  hunting  and  grazing  needs  many  times  more  land  than 
one  which  lives  by  agriculture. 

3  Coloni,  or  serfs,  somewhat  resembled  the  Russian  serf.  They  paid  rent  but 
could  not  be  separated  from  the  land.  In  theory  freemen,  practically  they  could 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE  549 


quent  decline  of  free  labor  and  the  extinction  of  the  middle  class 
—  the  mainstay  of  a  state;  (2)  Heavy  taxation,  and  the  farming 
out  of  the  collection  of  taxes  to  the  highest  bidder ;  (3)  The 
steady  decrease  in  population,  owing  partly  to  the  destruction  of 
the  free  laboring  class,  partly  to  the  low  birth-rate ;  (4)  The  re¬ 
cruiting  of  the  armies  from  the  barbarians  made  necessary  by  the 
low  birth-rate  and  decrease  in  the  free  population,  with  a  conse¬ 
quent  loss  in  patriotism  and  civic  excellence  ;  (5)  The  very  peace 
and  good  order  in  the  empire  which  led  men  to  forget  that  there 
must  be  something  more  than  mere  organization  and  officials  to 
make  and  preserve  a  government ;  (6)  Armies  inadequate  to 
protect  the  long  boundaries,  and  no  system  of  militia,  so  that, 
when  once  the  barbarians  broke  through  the  lines,  there  was 
nothing  to  resist  them,  but  they  could  go  where  they  pleased  ; 
(7)  In  addition  to  all  the  above,  ease  of  living  had  led  to  luxury, 
lack  of  energy,  and  loss  of  originality  in  almost  all  fields  of  human 
enterprise.  Art,  literature,  philosophy,  science  —  all  showed  a 
decadence ;  even  in  government  there  was  a  falling  away,  and  it 
was  with  codification  and  commentaries  rather  than  with  origi¬ 
nality  and  progress,  that  law  and  political  science  were  occupied. 
Such  was  the  condition  of  affairs  at  the  opening  of  the  fifth  century 
(401).  From  this  time  there  was  a  succession  of  invasions  and 
marchings  to  and  fro  by  Teutonic  tribes.  Sometimes  they  were 
nominally  allies,  or  “  guests  ”  as  they  would  call  themselves,  and 
did  not  interfere  with  the  laws  and  customs  except  so  far  as  these 
interfered  with  their  wishes.  Thus  there  would  be  two  sets  of 
laws  side  by  side  —  one  for  the  Roman  and  one  for  the  invader. 

5.  Alaric  the  Goth;  Fall  of  Rome.  410. —  It  soon  came  to 
pass  that  not  only  large  portions  of  the  Roman  armies,  but 
the  generals  also  were  barbarians.  Thus  the  Vandal,  Stilicho,  a 
Roman  general,  was  the  great  opponent  of  the  Visigoth,  Alaric. 
This  Visigothic  leader,  who  had  been  marching  through  Greece, 
Illyricum,  and  northern  Italy,  on  the  assassination  of  Stilicho 
through  the  jealousy  of  the  Roman  emperor,  turned  toward  Rome 

not  leave  the  estates,  for  they  could  not  take  away  property  with  them.  In  time  it 
came  about  that  the  status  of  colonus  descended  from  father  to  son,  and  once  a 
colonus  always  a  colonus. 


550 


APPENDIX  I 


and  appeared  before  the  city  in  the  autumn  of  408.  Rome  was 
spared  on  the  payment  of  a  heavy  ransom.  He  came  also  in  409, 
and  again  in  410.  This  last  time  he  took  the  city  and  gave  it 
over  to  pillage.  It  was  six  hundred  years  since  Rome  had  even 
seen  an  enemy  from  her  walls,  and  eight  hundred  since  an  enemy 
had  been  within  them.* 

6.  Barbarian  Control ;  Fall  of  the  Western  Empire  (476)  ;  Rise 
of  New  Kingdoms  (375-500). — The  world  was  startled  3  Rome  lost 
much  of  her  prestige  ;  the  Barbarians  felt  that  the  empire  be¬ 
longed  to  them,  and  they  set  up  and  put  down  emperors  who 
often  were  mere  puppets  in  their  hands.  So  great,  even  yet,  was 
the  force  of  the  Roman  name  that  the  nominal  Western  Empire 
lasted  about  sixty  years  longer.  At  last,  in  476,  the  Emperor 
Romulus  Augustulus  was  forced  by  Odoacer,  a  Teuton  chief,  to 
abdicate,  and  the  Western  Roman  Empire  came  to  an  end,  though 
the  authority  of  the  emperor  at  Constantinople  was  at  least  nomi¬ 
nally  recognized. 

Even  before  the  fall  of  Rome  (410),  the  empire  had  begun  to 
give  place  to  new  kingdoms  or  states  which  claimed  to  be  king¬ 
doms.  There  were  many  depopulated  districts.  The  Barbarians 
were  eager  for  land  and  secured  it  sometimes  by  force,  sometimes 
by  treaty  in  return  for  assistance  as  allies  of  the  Roman  armies. 
Beginning  about  375  the  movement  lasted  for  about  two  hun¬ 
dred  years.  The  character  of  these  invaders  varied.  Many  were 
more  than  ready  to  adopt  Roman  customs  and  Christianity  ;  others 
seemed  bent  on  havoc,  like  the  Vandals,  who  have  given  the 
name  of  vandalism  to  unreasoning  and  wanton  destruction. 

By  the  close  of  the  fifth  century  the  whole  of  the  old  Western 
Roman  Empire,  except  the  Italian  peninsula,  was  in  the  hands  of 
Teutonic  tribes,^  of  which  the  chief  were  the  Goths  and  Franks. 

7.  Invasion  of  the  Huns;  Attila,  the  Hun  (445-451).  —  Dur¬ 
ing  the  fifth  century  a  great  danger  threatened  Europe,  from  the 

1  Hannibal  in  B.C.  21 1 ;  and  the  Gauls  in  B.c.  390. 

*  About  500  the  Visigoths  occupied  parts  of  Gaul  and  Spain ;  the  Suevi,  north¬ 
west  Spain  and  a  good  part  of  modern  Portugal ;  the  Franks,  northwest  Gaul  and 
the  country  north  of  it ;  the  Burgundians,  the  lands  along  the  Rhone ;  the  Alle- 
manni,  Switzerland ;  the  Ostrogoths,  eastern  Hungary  and  Bosnia ;  Angles,  Saxons, 
and  Jutes,  England;  and  the  Vandals,  the  northern  coast  of  Africa. 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE  55  I 


invasion  of  the  Huns,  an  Asiatic  people  of  the  Mongolian  race. 
Why  they  left  their  Asiatic  home  is  not  known.  Possibly  they  in 
turn  were  pressed  upon  by  natives  east  of  them.  They  were  a 
savage  people  who  spared  no  foe.  About  the  time  of  the  battle 
of  Adrianople  (378)  they  had  settled  nearly  where  modern  Hun¬ 
gary  is.  The  Eastern  Emperor  had  bought  security  from  attack, 
but,  as  is  almost  always  the  case,  larger  tribute  was  soon  demanded. 

Under  Attila,  who  became  king  in  445,  the  Huns  controlled 
nearly  the  whole  of  Europe  north  of  the  Danube  and  east  of  the 
Rhine  as  far  as  the  shores  of  the  Baltic.  It  was  not  strange  that 
Attila  turned  his  attention  to  the  rich  countries  south  of  those  rivers. 
First  he  raided  the  Eastern  Empire  to  the  very  walls  of  Con¬ 
stantinople.  The  city  was  saved  by  a  disgraceful  treaty  yielding 
considerable  territory  and  agreeing  to  a  large  annual  tribute. 

8.  Battle  of  Chalons,  451.  —  Then  Attila  turned  to  the  west.  He 
invaded  Gaul  with  a  large  army,  but  was  defeated  near  Chalons 
(451)  by  a  combined  force  of  Visigoths,  Burgundians,  Franks, 
and  others  under  yEtius.  This  has  been  reckoned  as  one  of  the 
great  battles  of  the  world.  It  was  a  conflict  between  the  Aryan 
and  Tartar  tribes,  between  civilization  and  barbarism,  Christian¬ 
ity  and  heathenism.  The  next  year  Attila  advanced  again  and 
destroyed  the  city  of  Aquileia  at  the  head  of  the  Adriatic.  Fugi¬ 
tives  from  this  city  and  the  neighboring  plains  founded  Venice  on 
the  islands  of  the  shallow  sea.  Attila  established  himself  at  Milan, 
but  later  retired  beyond  the  Danube  and  died  (453). 

9.  The  Vandals;  Gaiseric.  406-534.  —  The  Vandals,  origi¬ 
nally  living  near  the  Baltic,  after  various  wanderings,  crossed  the 
Rhine  (406)  near  Mainz  (Mayence)  and  found  their  way  to 
Spain  (409).  Some  years  later  (429)  they  crossed  into  Africa^ 
under  the  leadership  of  Gaiseric  (or  Genseric).  Northern  Africa, 
known  as  the  “  granary  of  Rome,”  offered  an  easy  prey  to  these 
rapacious  invaders,  and  by  the  capture  of  the  flourishing  city  of 
Carthage  (439)  Gaiseric  gained  complete  control.  Africa  was 
lost  to  the  Western  Empire,  and  Roman  civilization,  to  a  great 
extent,  destroyed.  Rome  and  Italy  suffered  much  from  the  loss 
of  supplies.  North  Africa  had  been  a  stronghold  of  orthodox 

1  Some  authorities  say  they  were  invited  by  the  Roman  governor  Boniface. 


552 


APPENDIX  I 


Christianity,  the  home  of  Augustine  ^  and  other  Church  Fathers. 
The  Vandals,  though  Christian  in  name,  were  Arians  and  hostile 
to  the  orthodox  faith,  so  all  the  bishops  and  clergy  of  North 
Africa  that  were  able  fled  to  Europe  and  greatly  influenced 
European  thought  and  practice.  The  Vandals  became  seafaring 
men  and  seized  the  islands  of  the  western  Mediterranean.  After 
the  death  of  Attila,  Gaiseric  thought  it  opportune  to  attack  Rome. 
This  he  did  in  455.  Not  a  blow  was  struck  in  defense,  and  for  a 
fortnight  the  city  was  sacked,  and  hundreds  of  citizens  were  carried 
into  slavery.  Gaiseric  died  in  477.  In  time  the  Vandals  became 
more  civilized  and  adopted  the  orthodox  faith.  Their  dominion 
lasted  about  eighty  years,  when  their  power  was  overthrown  by 
Belisarius  (534),  a  great  general  of  the  Eastern  Empire. 

10.  Europe  during  the  Sixth  Century.  —  The  sixth  century  was 
on  the  Continent,  as  it  was  in  England,  a  time  of  flux.  Peoples 
were  moving  to  and  fro,  petty  kingdoms  were  set  up  and  pulled 
down,  all  Europe  was  striving  to  accommodate  itself  to  the  changing 
conditions.  It  was  needful,  if  there  was  to  be  peace  and  progress, 
that  the  newcomers  and  the  old  inhabitants  should  be  fused  into 
one  people,  and  that  in  some  way  Roman  and  Teutonic  laws  and 
customs  should  be  adjusted.  The  Teutonic  law,  which  was  un¬ 
written,  was  based  on  the  rights  of  the  individual ;  the  Roman  law 
was  founded  on  duty  to  the  state  or  community.  Roman  law, 
moreover,  had  been  carefully  codified  and  was  a  mass  of  rules 
applicable  to  a  highly  civilized  community.  The  process  of  ad¬ 
justment  was  long,  and  centuries  were  needed  to  complete  it ;  but 
in  the  end  Roman  law  was  the  conqueror  on  the  continent,  while 
in  Great  Britain  Teutonic  law  prevailed.^ 

11.  Odoacer  (476-493);  Theodoric.  —  In  no  country  were 
conditions  worse  than  in  Italy.  After  Odoacer  had  compelled 
Romulus  Augustulus  to  abdicate  (§  6)  in  476,  he  sent  the  insignia 
of  office  to  the  Eastern  Emperor,  asking  that  he  might  rule  at 
Rome  as  his  representative.  Odoacer  ruled  nearly  all  Italy  and 

1  St.  Augustine,  Bishop  of  Hippo,  died  (431)  during  the  siege  of  that  city  by 
Gaiseric. 

2  This  did  not  take  place  until  late  in  the  Middle  Ages.  Roman  law  was,  how¬ 
ever,  considerably  modified,  as  was  Teutonic  law  in  England. 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE  553 


ruled  it  well.  But  he  ruled  by  force  and  depended  upon  merce¬ 
nary  troops ;  he  had  no  real  support  from  the  people  of  Italy. 

The  Ostrogoths,  who  held  the  lands  south  of  the  Danube,  alter¬ 
nately  threatened  and  aided  the  Eastern  Empire.  Under  their 
able  king,  Theodoric,  they  were  a  strong  power.  Theodoric,  from 
a  residence  in  Constantinople,  was  familiar  with  conditions  in  the 
empire  and  well  fitted  to  lead  an  invasion.  The  Ostrogoths  were 
warlike,  but  as  Constantinople  was  almost  impregnable  to  such 
warriors,  it  was  natural  that  their  attention  should  be  attracted  to 
Italy.  It  was  easy  to  pick  a  quarrel.  Then  Theodoric  led  his 
armies  westward  against  Odoacer,  who  held  out  bravely  for  four 
years.  He  was  forced  to  surrender  at  Ravenna  (495),  and  a  few 
days  later  was  treacherously  slain. 

12.  Theodoric.  493-526.  —  Theodoric  set  up  a  new  kingdom 
with  Ravenna  for  its  capital.  He  was  an  admirer  of  Roman  cus¬ 
toms.  The  buildings  erected  by  him  at  Ravenna  still  stand  to  tes¬ 
tify  to  his  love  of  architecture  and  civilized  life,  while  the  works 
of  Boethius,  Cassiodorus,  and  Symmachus  show  his  love  of  learn¬ 
ing  and  encouragement  of  literature. 

Theodoric  had  a  clear  conception  of  what  a  great  ruler  ought  to 
be.  He  was  politic  and  generally  far-sighted.  His  wife  was  the 
sister  of  Clovis,  king  of  the  Franks,  one  of  his  daughters  was  wife 
of  the  king  of  the  Burgundiahs,  another  of  the  king  of  the  Visi¬ 
goths.  A  sister  was  wife  of  the  king  of  the  Vandals.  It  is  said 
that,  exceptdn  Britain,  there  was  no  place  within  the  whole  of  the 
Western  Empire  where  his  influence  was  not  felt.  He  was,  how¬ 
ever,  on  occasion,  suspicious,  cruel,  and  vindictive.  He  is  said  to 
have  slain  Odoacer  with  his  own  hand,  cast  Pope  John  into  prison 
where  he  died,  and,  near  the  close  of  his  reign,  had  Boethius,  the 
pliilosopher,  and  Symmachus  put  to  death. 

He  was  nominally  subject  to  the  Eastern  Emperor,  but  was 
really  independent,  and  his  well-organized  kingdom  included  Italy, 
Sicily,  and  the  lands  nortli  and  east  of  the  upper  Adriatic.  He 
made  little  or  no  change  in  the  administration  of  Italy,  and  though 
he  and  his  people  were  Arians,  he  was  tolerant,  and  is  reported  to 
have  said,  “  No  man’s  conscience  should  be  forced  contrary  to  his 
judgment.”  He  died  in  526. 


554 


APPENDIX  I 


13.  Justinian;  Belisarius.  —  Justinian,  one  of  the  few  great 
Eastern  Emperors  (527-565),  tried  to  bring  back  Italy  and  Africa 
to  the  empire.  His  success  in  Africa  through  Belisarius  (534) 
has  already  been  mentioned.  But  though  the  same  able  general 
was  sent  to  Italy  (535)  it  was  not  for  a  number  of  years  that  the 
imperial  armies,  then  under  Narses,  were  successful  (553).  So 
complete  was  the  defeat  that  the  Goths  were  compelled  to  leave 
Italy  and,  losing  e\  en  their  name,  disappeared  from  history. 

14.  The  Franks;  Clovis.  481-511.  —  Of  all  the  barbarian 
tribes  the  one  on  whom  our  attention  is  centered  for  several  cen¬ 
turies  is  that  of  the  Franks.  Late  in  the  fifth  century  (481)  under 
Clovis,^  they  became  a  great  power.  They  never  cut  themselves 
aloof  from  their  former  surroundings,  as  did  the  other  tribes,  but 
moved  forward  gradually,  always  able  to  bring  up  reserves.  In 
this  way  they  held  the  territory  they  gained  and  kept  increasing 
their  possessions.  They  turned  their  arms  against  their  fellow 
Teutonic  tribes  and  overcame  first  one  and  then  another. 
Clovis  and  his  people  were  heathen,  but  he  married  an  orthodox 
Christian  princess,  and  in  time  adopted  Christianity.  Thus  he  be¬ 
came  a  champion  of  the  orthodox  faith  in  Gaul  against  the  Goths 
and  other  Teutonic  natives  who  were  Arians.  The  successes  of 
Clovis  were  of  great  importance.  They  meant  that  the  Franks 
were  to  rule  Gaul,  later  to  be  called,  after  them,  France,  and  that 
the  Catholic  faith,  not  Arianism,  was  to  be  the  religion  of  the  land. 
More  than  this,  it  meant  that  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  now  known  as 
the  Pope,  had  gained  a  strong  ally,  and  that  there  would  be  an 
alliance  between  the  Frankish  kingdom  and  the  Popes  which  would 
greatly  influence  all  European  history.  The  dominions  of  Clovis 
comprised  nearly  all  modern  France,  Belgium,  and  lands  north  and 
south  of  the  Rhine. 

15.  Merovingians;  Mayors  of  the  Palace.  511-687.  —  At  the 
death  of  Clovis,  according  to  Teutonic  custom,  his  kingdom  was 
divided  among  his  four  sons.  For  the  next  hundred  years  the 
Frankish  kingdoms  were  the  scene  of  confusion,  havoc,  and  cruel 
murders,  but  there  was,  nevertheless,  growth  and  development. 

1  He  is  known  also  as  Chlodwig,  which  later  became  Ludwig,  and  in  French 
Louis, 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE  555 


The  height  of  the  sway  of  the  Merovingians/  as  the  descendants 
of  Clovis  were  called,  was  under  Dagobert  (628-638).  Even 
before  him  the  nobles  had  begun  to  acquire  great  power.  The 
chieftains  became  great  proprietors,  and  their  followers  lost  more 
and  more  of  their  privileges  and  became  soldiers  or  peasants. 
Great  lords  warred  against  other  lords,  the  weaker  losing  and  the 
more  powerful  gaining.  It  was  important  for  the  king  that  these 
nobles  should  be  friendly,  for  their  support  was  essential  to  him. 
Therefore  privileges  and  authority  were  bestowed  upon  them. 
Those  nearest  the  king’s  person  were  most  favored  —  among 
them  none  more  so  than  the  major-domus,  or  “  mayor  of  the  pal¬ 
ace,”  who  was  the  chief  official  of  the  king’s  household.  This 
office  became  hereditary,  and  in  time  the  “  mayor  of  the  palace  ” 
had  more  power  than  the  king,  and  for  about  sixty  years  the 
Merovingian  kings  reigned,  but  did  not  rule. 

16.  Pippin  (687-714);  Charles  Martel  (714-741)  ;  Battle 
of  Tours.  732.  —  Among  the  great  families  one  had  “  by  alliances, 
by  wealth,  by  prowess,  by  military  skill,  and  by  policy  gradually 
attained  a  power  with  which  no  other  family,  chief,  or  combina¬ 
tion  of  chiefs  could  any  longer  contend.”  This  was  the  family  of 
Pippin  of  Heristal  (d.  714).  His  son,  Charles  Martel  (the  Ham¬ 
mer),  “  mayor  of  the  palace,”  not  only  put  down  domestic  anarchy, 
but  at  the  battle  of  Tours,  near  Poitiers  in  central  France  (732), 
drove  back  the  hitherto  irresistible  Moorish  foe  (§21).  At  the 
request  of  the  Pope  he  interfered  in  Italian  affairs,  and  from  this 
time  the  Franks  and  their  successors  were  looked  upon  as  the 
protectors  of  the  Papacy,  and,  with  little  exception,  acted  as  such 
down  to  the  latter  part  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Charles  Mar¬ 
tel,  king  except  in  name,  died  741. 

17.  Pippin  the  Short  (752-768).  —  Pippin  the  Short,  the  son 
and  able  successor  of  Charles  Martel,  resolved  to  be  king  in  name 
as  well  as  in  fact.  He  appealed  to  the  Pope,  Zacharias,  asking 
him  whether  it  was  a  good  thing  for  the  one  to  be  king  who  did 
not  have  the  power.  The  Pope  replied,  “  It  seems  better  that  he 
who  has  the  power  in  the  state  should  be  and  be  called  king  rather 

1  The  name  is  possibly  derived  from  Meroveus  or  Merwig  (448-458),  grand¬ 
father  of  Clovis. 


556 


APPENDIX  I 


than  he  who  is  falsely  called  king.”  Whereupon  Pippin  de¬ 
throned  the  Merovingian  Childeric  III  and  called  himself  king. 
This  was  the  beginning  of  the  Carlovingian  dynasty.^  It  should 
be  noted,  however,  that  the  Pope  did  not  make  Pippin  king,  but 
only  sanctioned  the  adoption  of  the  title. 

18.  Langobards  ;  Pippin’s  Gift  to  the  Pope.  756.  —  Among  the 
rudest  of  the  Teutonic  tribes  was  that  of  the  Langobards,  later 
softened  into  Lombards.  These  took  possession  (568)  of  the 
plains  north  of  the  river  Po,  ever  since  called  Lombardy,  and  later 
extended  their  boundary  southward,  and  in  751  captured  Ravenna 
and  threatened  Rome.  As  the  Lombards  were  Arians  the  outlook 
for  the  Catholic  Pope  was  serious  in  every  way.  He  vainly  ap¬ 
pealed  for  aid  to  the  Eastern  Emperor,  and  then  turned  to  Pippin, 
the  Frank.  This  he  did  personally,  visiting  Gaul  for  the  purpose. 
He  was  successful  in  his  mission,  and  Pippin  entered  Italy  with  an 
army  and  relieved  Rome.  But  as  soon  as  Pippin  returned  to  Gaul, 
Aistulf,  the  Lombard  king,  again  besieged  Rome.  Again  Pope 
Stephen  appealed  to  Pippin,  who  entered  Italy  a  second  time. 
Pippin  made  thorough  work.  Aistulf  was  forced  to  give  up  all 
the  territory  he  had  wrested  from  the  empire,  and  then,  instead 
of  keeping  it  himself.  Pippin  turned  the  territory  over  to  the  Pope 
(756),  who  governed  the  country  as  the  Empire  had  done.^ 
Possibly  this  was  the  beginning  of  the  temporal  power  of  the 
church,  which,  though  greatly  restricted  in  later  times,  lasted  until 
1870,  when  Napoleon  HI  withdrew  the  French  troops  from  Rome, 
and  Victor  Emmanuel  H,  King  of  Italy,  took  possession.® 

19.  Mohammedanism.  622.  —  Since  the  eighth  century  one  of 
the  great  religious  and  political  forces  in  the  world  has  been  that 
of  Mohammedanism,  or,  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  Islam.*  Moham¬ 
med  (or  Mahommed,  or  Mahomet),  the  founder,  was  born  in 
.Mabia  about  571.  Until  he  was  forty  he  lived  an  obscure  life, 

1  So  called  from  Pippin's  son,  Charles  the  Great,  or  Charlemagne. 

2  The  Papacy  already  held  much  land  in  Italy,  acquired  mainly  by  gifts  or  be¬ 
quest,  but  it  was  as  owner,  not  as  political  ruler. 

^  The  document  known  as  “  Donation  of  Constantine  "  (324)  conferred  upon 
the  Pope  the  city  of  Rome,  land  and  power.  It  was  used  as  a  basis  for  extensive 
claims. 

*  The  word  is  also  written  Mahomraedanism  and  Muhammedanism. 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE  557 


but  then  (610  or  61 1),  according  to  the  legend,  he  had  a  vision 
which  turned  him  into  a  prophet  and  the  founder  of  a  new  religion. 
Beginning  to  teach  his  doctrines,  he  aroused  great  opposition, 
and  fled  for  safety  from  Mecca,  his  place  of  residence,  to  Medina 
(622).^  The  inhabitants  of  Medina  were  enemies  of  those  of 
Mecca  and  took  up  the  cause  of  Mohammed.  In  the  guerilla 
warfare  which  followed  the  Meccans  were  defeated.  Gradually 
the  influence  and  power  of  Mohammed  increased  until  all  Arabia 
accepted  the  new  faith. 

20.  Character  of  Mohammedanism;  Its  Conquests.  571-718. 
—  Mohammed  claimed  no  miraculous  power,  and  regarded  him¬ 
self  only  as  an  inspired  prophet  and  reformer.  Judaism  and 
Christianity,  he  said,  are  perverted  forms  of  the  true  religion 
which  he  proclaimed,  whose  watchword  is,  “There  is  but  one 
God,  and  Mohammed  is  his  prophet.  ”  ^ 

The  religion  founded  by  him  is  called  Islam,  that  is,  resignation, 
and  its  followers  Mussulmans.^  To  spread  the  religion  by  force 
was  regarded  as  commendable.  “War  against  the  infidels,”  said 
the  prophet,  “  is  a  sacred  war ;  God  is  with  the  combatants,  and 
those  who  fall  in  battle  will  pass  straight  to  Paradise.”  This  doc¬ 
trine  was  faithfully  believed  by  Mohammed’s  followers  and  suc¬ 
cessors.  The  armies  were  fanatical  in  their  faith  and  devotion. 
They  offered  their  enemies  the  choice  between  the  Koran  —  that 
is,  acceptance  of  the  religion ;  tribute ;  or  the  sword.  The  third 
of  these  meant  death  ;  the  second,  heavy  tribute  and  harsh  treat¬ 
ment  ;  the  first,  admission  to  equality  with  the  faithful.  For  years 
these  fanatical  armies  carried  everything  before  them.  By  718 
the  new  religion  "Extended  from  the  Indus  to  the  .Atlantic,  and  its 
votaries  held  Syria,  Palestine,  the  old  Persian  Empire,  Armenia, 
Turkestan,  part  of  India,  Egypt,  northern  Africa,  and  Spain.  The 
greater  part  of  the  conquered  peoples  embraced  Islam,  and  re- 

1  The  year,  622,  of  this  flight,  known  as  the  Hegira,  is  the  beginning  of  the  Mo¬ 
hammedan  era.  The  Christian  year  1912  nearly  corresponds  to  the  Mohammedan 
year  1330.  The  difference  in  reckoning  is  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  Mohamme¬ 
dan  year  is  based  on  lunar  time,  while  the  Christian  is  based  on  sidereal  time. 

2  Often  given  as,  “  There  is  no  God  but  Allah  and  Mohammed  is  his  prophet." 

<*  Many  of  the  real  or  supposed  sayings  of  Mohammed  were  written  down,  and 

the  collection  is  known  as  the  Koran. 


558 


APPENDIX  1 


tained  it  even  when  the  political  power  fell  into  other  hands. 
With  perhaps  the  single  exception  of  Spain  the  followers  of  Mo¬ 
hammed  lost  little  territory,  and  the  religion  claims  to-day  about 
200,000,000  followers.^  That  Islam  is  well  adapted  to  the  Ori¬ 
ental  mind  is  shown  by  its  rapid  growth,  and  by  its  hold  upon  the 
world. 

21.  The  Moors  in  Spain.  71 1-732.  —  The  Saracens,  or  Moors, 
entered  Spain  in  711,  completely  subdued  the  Visigothic  king 
known  as  “Roderick,  the  last  of  the  Goths,"  and  in  seven  years 
(718)  had  gained  all  Spain  and  were  making  raids  into  Gaul.  It 
was  not,  however,  until  731  that,  under  a  skillful  general,  Abder- 
rahman,  the  Moors  were  able  to  enter  Gaul  with  a  large  army. 
As  has  been  seen  (§  16)  this  army  was  routed  at  Poitiers  (or 
Tours)  in  732,  and  the  Moorish  leader  slain.  Whether  the  danger 
to  Europe  was  quite  so  great  as  is  often  claimed  is  doubtful. 
It  is  hardly  likely  that  the  Moors  would  have  advanced  beyond 
Gaul,  and  it  is  probable  that  the  Teutons  would  have  united 
against  the  common  foe  as  in  the  case  of  Attila  the  Hun  (451). 
Besides  this,  Islam  was  not  attractive  to  Teutonic  minds. 

22.  Culture  and  Achievements  of  the  Saracens.  —  For  a  hun¬ 
dred  years  or  more  the  Mohammedans  were  unlettered  and  un¬ 
progressive,  but  in  the  ninth  century,  under  the  dynasty  of  the 
Abassides,  a  great  change  took  place.  The  literature  of  the 
Greeks,  Egyptians,  and  Eastern  nations  was  sought  for  and  studied, 
and  the  Saracens  became  the  most  learned  people  of  their  day. 
This  was  particularly  true  of  the  sciences.  Mathematics,  astronomy, 
and  chemistry  were  pursued  with  great  success.  Indeed  “  alge¬ 
bra  ”  and  “  chemistry  ”  are  Arabic  words,  and  the  Saracens  are 
really  the  founders  of  the  latter  science.  Through  them  we  get 
our  Arabic  numerals  which  have  been  of  such  inestimable  value. 
They  were  great  botanists,  the  best  physicians  and  surgeons  of  the 
time,  the  best  farmers,  the  best  architects,  the  best  artisans,  the 
best  sailors,  the  clearest  thinkers.  The  height  of  their  intellectual 
progress  was  reached  in  Spain  during  the  tenth  century.  Cordova 
was  the  center  of  learning.  Its  university  is  said  to  have  had 
thousands  of  students,  and  among  them  were  many  Christians. 

1  The  number  of  Christians  is  estimated  at  494,000,000. 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE 


559 


The  Moors  in  Spain  excelled  in  architecture,  as  the  cathedral  at 
Cordova,  once  a  mosque,  and  the  wonderfully  beautiful  ruins  of 
the  Alhambra  in  Grenada  bear  testimony.  From  these  Saracens 
also  come  many  of  the  Eastern  influences,  which  are  often  wholly 
ascribed  to  the  Crusades. 

23.  The  Frankish  Empire;  Charles  the  Great.  768-814. — ■ 
Pippin  (§  17)  died  in  768,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  two  sons, 
Charles  and  Carloman  ;  the  latter  died  in  771,  and  Charles  be¬ 
came  sole  ruler.  Charles,  born  about  742,  is  one  of  the  greatest 
men  in  history,  and  despite  his  faults  well  deserves  the  name  of 
Great.^  He  was  over  six  feet  in  height,  of  dignified  presence, 
rather  stout  in  person,  but  well  proportioned,  his  eyes  were  large 
and  lively,  his  expression  bright  and  cheerful.  He  was  temperate 
in  his  food  and  drink,  especially  in  the  latter,  and  it  is  said  he 
hated  drunkenness.  Except  on  great  occasions  he  dressed 
simply,  always  following  the  Frankish  fashion,  and  differing  little 
from  the  common  dress  of  the  people.  He  was  skilled  in  reading 
aloud  and  in  singing  to  the  harp.  He  was  fond  of  literature,  of 
the  liberal  arts  and  the  science  of  the  day,  and  of  architecture. 
Though  we  know  that  he  could  sign  his  name,  it  is  not  likely  that 
he  ever  learned  to  write  with  any  ease.  He  was  familiar  with 
Latin,  and  understood,  if  he  did  not  speak,  Greek.  He  was  a 
great  churchgoer.  As  a  general  and  as  a  statesman  he  ranks  as 
one  of  the  foremost  in  history.  His  personal  morality  and  that 
of  his  court  was  low.  At  the  same  time  he  must  be  judged  by 
the  standards  of  the  day.  Like  other  Teutonic  monarchs,  he  was 
occasionally  cruel  and  even  inhuman.^ 

24.  Conquests  of  Charles.  —  Some  of  the  more  important  fea¬ 
tures  of  Charles’s  reign  may  be  grouped  under  four  heads:  (i) 
His  conquests.  These  comprised  the  Lombard  kingdom  in  Italy, 
Saxony,  Aquitaine,  Bavaria,  Bohemia,  the  Slavic  lands  along  the 
Elbe  and  Drave,  and  portions  of  northern  Spain.  Thus  he  united 
the  whole  of  central  and  a  large  part  of  western  Europe  under  one 
rule  —  an  empire  unequaled  since  Roman  days. 

'  By  his  Teutonic  subjects  he  was  called  Karl;  by  his  Latin  ones,  Carolus;  and 
by  the  French  he  is  known  as  Charlemagne,  a  name  which  i.s  still  often  used. 

At  Verden  (782)  he  ordered  4500  prisoners  of  war  to  be  beheaded. 


560 


APPENDIX  I 


25.  Relations  of  Charles  with  the  Church.  —  (2)  Charles  re¬ 
garded  the  church  as  an  inherent  part  of  his  empire.  He  saw  to 
it  that  the  Frankish  church  was  carefully  organized,  and  considered 
himself  as  the  head  of  it.  He  presided  at  church  councils,-  and 
kept  constant  oversight  of  the  bishops.  He  believed  it  to  be 
part  of  his  religious  duty  to  conquer  the  heathen  and  convert 
them  to  Christianity.^ 

26.  Organization  of  Charles’s  Empire.  —  (3)  Charles  divided 
his  empire  into  districts  or  counties,  over  each  of  which  he  placed 
an  administrative  officer  known  as  a  count.  The  counts  repre¬ 
sented  the  emperor  and  presided  at  all  assemblies  of  the  people. 
Along  the  borders  of  his  empire  he  established  “  marches  ”  or 
“  marks,”  over  which  he  placed  counts  of  the  marks,  or  Margraves. 
These  officers  had  intrusted  to  them  great  powers  ;  they  com¬ 
manded  armies  and  could  act  almost  independently.  Their 
special  duties  were  to  repel  invasions.^ 

In  order  to  keep  himself  informed  of  what  was  going  on,  as  well 
as  to  exercise  supervision  over  the  counts,  and  to  correct  abuses, 
he  created  officers  known  as  m/ss/  doininici  (the  lord’s  messengers). 
They  usually  went  in  pairs,  a  bishop  and  a  count,  and  they  were 
expected  to  bring  back  full  reports  of  the  state  of  the  empire. 
Charles  traveled  frequently  anil  acquainted  himself  personally 
with  the  condition  of  affairs.  He  issued  directions  or  instructions, 
called  capitularies,  which  related  to  his  estates,  to  matters  of 
public  interest,  and  to  the  church.  There  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  any  regular  system  of  taxation,  and  the  personal  re¬ 
sources  of  Charles  came  from  large  estates  which  were  carefully 
managed. 

27.  Education,  Literature,  and  the  Arts  under  Charles.  —  (4) 
Charles  was  a  lover  of  literature  ;  he  sought  out  learned  men  and 
invited  them  to  his  court.  Among  these  were  Alcuin  from  York, 
and  Paul  the  Deacon  (Paulus  Diaconus).  He  found  that  even 
bishops  wrote  incorrectly,  and  determined  to  have  schools  estab¬ 
lished  at  every  monastery,  not  only  for  the  monks,  but  for  the 

1  Among  the  heathen  tribes  that  he  conquered  were  those  of  Saxony. 

2  William  the  Conqueror  under  similar  conditions  pursued  a  similar  policy 
(History,  §  46) . 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE  56 1 


youth  of  the  vicinity.  He  did  not,  however,  encourage  the  study 
of  Teutonic  languages,  and  it  is  largely  due  to  him  that  for  about 
five  hundred  years  Latin  was  the  literary  language  of  Europe. 
This  result  was  a  natural  one,  because  the  teachers  of  religion  were 
of  the  Latin  church,  whose  services  were  in  that  language.  They 
were  the  learned  men,  and  they  themselves  having  been  educated 
in  that  tongue,  Latin  literature  was  their  standard  of  excellence.^ 

Charles  was  fond  of  architecture  and  had  many  buildings  erected. 
The  most  famous  of  these  is  the  cathedral  at  Aachen  (Aix-la- 
Chapelle),  which  he  is  said  to  have  planned  himself  and  in  which 
he  was  buried. 

28.  Coronation  of  Charles.  800.  —  The  event  which  stands  out 
above  all  others  in  the  history  of  this  great  man  was  his  coronation 
as  Emperor  at  Rome  on  Christmas  Day,  800,^  by  Pope  Leo  III. 

It  has  been  said  that  “  the  coronation  of  Charles  is  not  only 
the  central  event  of  the  Middle  Ages,  it  is  also  one  of  the  very  few 
events  of  which,  taking  them  singly,  it  may  be  said  if  they  had  not 
happened,  the  history  of  the  world  would  have  been  different.”  ^ 
There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  if  the  Roman  Empire  had 
not  been  restored  just  then,  it  would  not  have  been  restored  at  all. 
There  can  be  little  doubt  that  Charles  had  some  such  end  in  view, 
but,  according  to  best  authorities,  he  had  not  expected  it  to  come 
about  just  when  and  as  it  did. 

The  occasion  of  Charles’s  visit  to  Rome  was  the  ill  treatment 
of  the  newly  chosen  Pope  by  Roman  factions.  Like  his  predeces¬ 
sor,  Stephen,  who  appealed  to  Pippin  with  so  much  success,  Leo 
personally  appealed  to  Charles  (799).  The  king  was  too  busy  to 
go  to  Rome  then,  but  went  in  the  following  year,  and  acquitted 
Leo  of  charges  against  him.  Two  days  later,  Christmas  Day,  as 
Charles  was  attending  service  in  St.  Peter’s,"'  while  kneeling,  the 
Pope  placed  upon  his  head  a  golden  crown,  anointed  him  with  oil, 

1  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  to  this  movement,  set  on  foot  by  Charles,  we  owe 
the  preservation  of  many  of  the  classics  of  antiquity,  the  manuscript  copies  of  which 
might  otherwise  have  perished. 

2  It  was  the  custom  then  to  begin  the  year  on  Christmas  Day,  hence  the  date  of 
the  coronation  is  sometimes  given  as  801. 

®  Bryce,  ‘‘  Holy  Roman  Empire,”  chap,  v,  p.  50,  ed.  1904. 

4  The  old  basilica  of  that  name. 


562 


APPENDIX  I 


and  gave  him  the  kiss  of  peace,  while  the  people  cried  out,  “  Long 
life  and  victory  to  the  mighty  Charles,  the  great  and  pacific  Em¬ 
peror  of  the  Romans,  crowned  of  God.” 

29.  Meaning  of  the  Coronation  ;  “  The  Holy  Roman  Empire.”  — 
Exactly  what  this  act  meant  has  been  much  discussed.  It  is, 
however,  clear  that  the  Pope  had  no  legal  right  to  crown ;  that 
Charles  had  not  claimed  the  crown  by  right  of  conquest ;  neither 
was  he  the  nominee  of  the  people  of  Rome.  The  most  that  can 
be  said,  is,  that  Charles  was  so  eminently  the  man,  that  the  Pope 
gave  expression  to  what  was  indicated  by  circumstances  and  ap¬ 
proved  by  the  popular  mind.  It  was,  in  fact,  an  insurrection 
against  the  Eastern  Empire,  which  was,  nominally,  the  Roman 
Empire.  Henceforth  the  Roman  Empire  was  transferred  to  the 
West  and  Charles  was  its  emperor.  But  the  act  meant  more 
than  the  separation  of  the  West  from  the  East.  It  meant  a  close 
union  of  church  and  state  ;  it  was  the  beginning  of  that  idea 
which,  though  not  developed  until  later,  so  deeply  affected  the  whole 
life  of  medieval  Europe :  the  idea  that  the  state  should  be  at  once 
political  and  ecclesiastical  —  that  the  “  Holy  Roman  Church  and 
the  Holy  Roman  Empire  are  one  and  the  same  thing,  in  two  as¬ 
pects.”  On  the  spiritual  side  its  head  was  the  Pope,  on  the  human 
and  political,  the  Emperor.  Charles,  however,  made  little  difference 
in  his  administration.  He  still  named  the  bishops  and  abbots, 
he  did  not  hesitate  to  speak  strongly  to  the  Pope,  and  unhesitatingly 
took  the  place  of  the  protector  and  overseer  of  the  church. 

30.  Relations  of  Charles  with  England.  —  With  England  the 
relations  of  Charles  were  close.  He  asked  for  one  of  his  sons  the 
hand  of  Offa’s  daughter  in  marriage  (790?)  ;  he  sent  gifts  to  the 
bishoprics  of  Mercia  and  Northumberland,  and  wrote  letters  to 
Offa  (795);  and  it  was  the  Englishman  Alcuin  who  was  at  the 
head  of  his  literary  and  educational  plans.  Charles  maintained  re¬ 
lations  with  the  whole  English  church,  and  English  exiles  found  his 
court  a  safe  refuge.  Egbert  of  Wessex  in  his  youth  probably  saw 
the  coronation  at  Rome,  and  from  Charles  doubtless  learned  some¬ 
thing  .of  that  statesmanship  which  afterwards  served  him  so  well. 

31.  Charles’s  Reign  an  Epoch.  —  With  the  reign  of  Charles  a  new 
epoch  began.  The  age  of  barbarism  and  of  brute  force  had  ended. 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE  563 


Rude  and  rough  as  the  following  ages  were,  there  was  a  vast 
difference  between  them  and  the  period  of  the  inroads  of  the 
barbarians.  It  was  the  beginning  of  Medieval  Times  or  the  Middle 
Ages.  Charles  died  in  814  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Louis 
the  Pious,  also  known  as  Le  D^bonnaire. 

32.  Disintegration  of  Charles’s  Empire.  Louis  the  Pious  and 
his  Successors.  814-888.  —  Charles  had  left  his  empire  in  good 
order,  and  for  some  years  the  strength  of  the  organization  and  of 
custom  held  it  together ;  but  the  forces  of  disruption  were  too 
strong  for  his  successors  to  cope  with.  Charles,  however,  had  given 
an  ideal  after  which  to  strive. 

Among  other  disintegrating  forces  two  may  be  mentioned  here  : 
i)  the  Teutonic  custom  of  dividing  an  inheritance  among  the 
sons  of  a  ruler,  not  unfrequently  begun  during  the  lifetime  of  the 
father;  (2)  the  growth  and  development  of  different  languages. 

Louis  the  Pious  soon  after  his  succession  (817)  associated  three 
of  his  sons  with  him  in  the  government,  giving  them  more  or  less 
authority;  and  at  his  death  (840)  the  three  surviving  sons  con¬ 
tinued  the  strife  for  mastery  which  had  begun  before  their  father’s 
death.*  This  strife  was  brought  to  a  close  by  the  Treaty  of  Verdun 
(843).  By  the  terms  of  this  treaty  Lothaire,  the  eldest,  received 
the  territory  stretching  from  modern  Belgium  to  Rome,  with  the 
title  of  Emperor  ;  Louis  the  German  (or  Ludwig)  received  Bavaria 
and  part  of  what  is  now  known  as  Germany ;  while  Charles  the 
Bald,  the  youngest  son,  received  what  is  nearly  modern  France. 
This  is  the  first  official  recognition  of  the  fact  that  Europe  was 
being  divided  into  nations  speaking  different  languages.  It  was 
the  beginning  of  France  and  Germany.  In  the  kingdom  of 
Charles  the  Bald  the  language  spoken  was  already  called  Lingua 
Romana,  the  Roman  tongue,  a  language  founded  on  the  old  Latin 
spoken  in  Gaul ;  while  the  language  spoken  in  the  dominions  of 
Louis  was  called  Lingua  Teudesca,  or  German  tongue.^  The  do- 

1  Even  Charles  the  Great  had  divided  his  empire  among  his  three  sons  (806), 
but  the  death  of  two  of  them  before  their  father  left  Louis  an  undivided  inheritance. 

-  This  fact  is  shown  by  what  is  known  as  the  Oaths  of  Strassburg  (842).  These 
were  taken  by  Charles  and  Louis,  pledging  themselves  to  support  each  other  as 
against  Lothaire.  Each  king  took  the  oath  before  his  army,  using  the  language  the 
respective  armies  could  understand.  The  text  of  these  oaths  has  come  down  to  us. 


564 


APPENDIX  I 


minion  of  Lothaire,  composed  of  many  nationalities,  was  broken 
up  by  mountains,  and  had  neither  geographical,  nor  racial,  nor 
lingual  reasons  for  its  existence,  and  was,  almost  from  the  first,  the 
scene  of  many  conflicts^ 

33.  Europe  during  the  Ninth  Century ;  Rise  of  National  Feel¬ 
ing.  —  The  history  of  Europe  for  the  next  century  is  one  of 
intrigue  and  unstable  governments.  New  kingdoms  were  set  up, 
some  to  exist  only  a  short  time.  What  took  place  in  Great 
Britain  happened  also  on  the  Continent  on  a  larger  scale. 

The  underlying  cause  of  the  disintegration  of  the  empire  of 
Charles  was  the  rise  and  development  of  new  nationalities,  shaped 
and  modified  largely  by  local  conditions.  In  Gaul  and  in  Italy 
the  Teutons  had  become  amalgamated  with  the  old  inhabitants 
and  lost  their  original  characteristics.  They  could  no  longer 
understand  the  speech  of  their  forefathers.  The  inhabitants  of 
the  German  lands,  into  which  Roman  life  and  civilization  had 
never  penetrated,  inevitably  tended  to  form  nationalities  Teutonic 
in  race  and  language.  Furthermore,  the  Teutonic  idea  that  a  king¬ 
dom  was  a  private  possession  to  be  divided  among  the  sons,  led 
to  great  subdivision.  Besides  these  a  social  and  political  insti¬ 
tution,  known  as  feudalism,  at  once  an  effect  and  cause  of  the  con¬ 
dition  of  affairs,  exercised  a  powerful  influence. 

34.  Rise  of  Feudalism.  —  The  origin  of  feudalism  is  obscure 
and  was  due  to  many  causes,  chiefly  the  military  and  economic 
conditions  which  surrounded  the  Teutonic  peoples  of  western 
Europe.  Its  development  was  gradual,  differing  in  different 
countries,  and  at  different  periods.  In  Gaul  or  France,  the 
Christian  portion  of  Spain,  Italy,  and  Germany,  it  appeared 
during  the  latter  part  of  the  eighth  century.  In  England,  though 
it  already  existed  in  some  of  its  features,  it  was  introduced  in  a 
developed  form  by  William  the  Conqueror.  In  the  other  Euro¬ 
pean  countries  and  in  the  Christian  states  of  the  East  it  appeared 
still  later.  It  was  most  fully  developed  in  France.  It  was  at 
its  height  in  the  thirteenth  century,  and  then  its  influence  began 

1  It  may  be  noted  that  Louis  was  called  King  of  the  Germans,  Charles,  King  of 
the  Franks,  but  the  middle  kingdom  had  to  be  called  the  Kingdom  of  Lothaire. 
The  title  of  Emperor  carried  with  it  no  power. 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE  565 


slowly  to  lessen  as  new  conditions  came  into  being.  It  cannot 
be  said,  however,  that  its  influence  has  ever  wholly  disappeared. 

35.  Elements  of  Feudalism.  —  At  its  height  there  were  three 
definite  elements  apparent:  (i)  The  personal,  or  the  personal 
relation  between  lord  and  vassal.^  (2)  The  territorial,  or  where 
land  was  granted  by  a  lord  to  a  vassal  on  certain  conditions, 
which  varied  greatly,  the  actual  title  to  the  fief  remaining  in  the 
lord.  The  typical  fief  was  land,  but  privileges  of  many  kinds,  of¬ 
fices,  etc.,  also  constituted  fiefs.  At  first  the  relation  was  not  neces¬ 
sarily  an  hereditary  one,  but  in  time  it  became  so  almost  univer- 
sally.^  (3)  The  governmental,  where  political  jurisdiction  was 
granted  by  a  lord  to  a  vassal. 

36.  Effects  of  Feudalism,  —  It  is  easy  to  see  that  all  holders  of 
land  or  of  power  would  be  influenced  by  feudalism.  Churches, 
monasteries,  abbeys,  bishops,  abbots,  and  even  cities  would  be 
sometimes  lords  and  sometimes  vassals.  Thus  feudalism  affected 
every  relation  of  life.  The  most  obvious  effect  was  the  creation 
of  petty  domains,  more  or  less  independent.  Every  owner  of 
land  was  a  petty  sovereign,  every  domain  was  a  petty  state.  In 
such  a  condition  of  affairs  a  king  would  be  often  unable  to  per¬ 
form  the  duties  belonging  to  his  office,  and  the  protection,  which 
could  not  be  obtained  from  king  or  emperor,  would  be  sought  for 
from  those  who  were  able  to  give  it.  The  result  was  the  impossi¬ 
bility  of  a  strong  national  government,  hence  national  disorder 
and  petty  warfare. 

Feudalism  pressed  most  hardly  on  the  poor,  for  little  right  was 
recognized  by  the  upper  classes  but  that  of  might.  The  sword 
was  the  arbiter,  and  society  was  perhaps  generally  in  a  state  of 

1  "  The  vassal  promised  his  lord  fidelity,  aid,  and  counsel.  Fidelity,  that  is  not 
to  injure  him,  nor  fight  against  him,  not  to  attack  his  wife  or  children.  Aid,  that  is 
to  aid  him  by  fighting  for  him  or  by  lending  him  his  fortified  house,  or  even  by 
lending  him  money,  and  by  money  payments  under  certain  conditions.  Counsel, 
that  is  to  come  to  him  for  the  purpose  of  giving  him  counsel  and  especially  to  aid 
him  in  pronouncing  judgment.”  The  vassal  also  gave  homage,  that  is,  an  oath 
binding  him  to  the  lord  for  life  —  in  other  words  becoming  his  man.  The  lord  on 
his  part  promised  protection  to  the  vassal. 

^  Some  curious  illustr.ilions  of  hereditary  rights  and  privileges  were  shown  at 
the  coronation  of  Edward  VII  (1902),  and  of  George  V  (1911).  In  the  case  ol 
laud,  iftlicre  were  no  legitimate  heirs,  it  reverted  to  the  lord  or  to  the  king. 


566 


APPENDIX  I 


war.  That  this  was  so  is  shown  by  the  establishment  (1041),  by 
the  church,  of  the  “Truce  of  God,”  which  forbade  private  war 
from  Wednesday  evening  till  Monday  morning,  and  upon  certain 
specific  holy  days  and  seasons.^  Though  the  truce  was  often  vio¬ 
lated,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  effect  was  good. 

Wherever  feudalism  prevailed  it  was  modified  to  suit  existing 
conditions.  It  was  helpful  in  that,  besides  affording  some  kind 
of  order  in  an  unruly  age,  it  fostered  the  spirit  of  personal  inde¬ 
pendence,  and  it  tended  to  increase  home  life,  improve  the  con¬ 
dition  of  woman,  and  bring  about  a  closer  relation  between  the 
lord  and  his  vassals.* 

37.  The  Northmen  in  Europe.  700-1000.  —  The  invasion  of 
England  by  the  Danes  (History,  §§  19-21)  was  part  of  a  great 
movement  which,  beginning  in  the  eighth  century,  extended  far 
and  wide.  The  early  inhabitants  of  Sweden,  Norway,  and  Den¬ 
mark  belonged  to  the  Teutonic  race  and  were  heathen.  They 
are  known  as  Scandinavians,  Norsemen,  or  Northmen.®  Exactly 
what  was  the  reason  for  the  migrations  is  not  certainly  known,  but 
it  was  probably  due  to  several  causes,  among  them  love  of  adven¬ 
ture,  overpopulation,  dissatisfaction  with  home  conditions,  rise  of 
great  rulers  who  put  down  private  warfare,  and  possibly  the  pres¬ 
sure  from  behind  and  fear  of  the  Huns. 

38.  Expeditions  of  the  Northmen.  —  Late  in  the  eighth  cen¬ 
tury,  or  early  in  the  ninth,  the  Northmen  began  the  conquest  of 
the  Orkneys,  Shetlands,  and  Hebrides;  about  874  they  settled 
Iceland,  and  a  century  later  Greenland  was  colonized  ;  and  about 
the  first  of  the  eleventh  century  they  visited  North  America, 
which  they  called  Vinland,  but  it  is  not  known  whether  they  made 
any  settlements  there. 

1  The  existence  of  such  an  arrangement  shows  the  necessity  for  it.  The  num¬ 
ber  of  days  in  a  year  upon  which  private  war  was  admissible  was  finally  reduced  to 
eighty.  The  penalty  of  violation  was  excommunication. 

2  The  lord  lived  on  an  estate,  his  castle  was  his  headquarters  and  place  of  resi¬ 
dence.  Thus  he  was  thrown  into  close  and  continued  contact  with  his  family  and 
retainprs,  as  neighbors  were  few  and  distant.  In  his  absence,  his  wife  was  the 
head,  and  the  possession  of  authority  gave  her  position. 

8  As  the  invaders  of  England  appear  to  have  come  chiedy  from  Denmark,  they 
are  called  Danes. 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE  567 


Meantime,  Northmen  from  what  is  now  Sweden  were  crossing 
the  Baltic  and  pushing  eastward.  By  862,  Ruric,  one  of  their 
great  chiefs  who  had  gained  posssession  of  Kiev  and  Novgorod, 
set  up  a  kingdom  which  was  to  develop  into  the  Empire  of 
Russia.*  From  Russia  traders  made  their  way  to  Constantinople  ; 
and  later,  attracted  by  the  wealth  of  the  country,  armed  bands 
penetrated  even  to  the  walls  of  Constantinople.  About  the  year 
1000  Vladimir,  the  Grand  Prince  of  Russia,  married  a  sister  of 
the  Eastern  Emperor  and  became  a  Christian.  Thus  the  Eastern 
or  Greek  church,  became  the  church  of  Russia,  and  in  later  times 
the  emperor  became  the  head  of  the  Greek  church  of  Russia. 

39.  Northmen  in  France  (814-987)  ;  The  Normans.  —  During 
the  confusion  following  the  death  of  Charles  the  Great  there  was 
scarcely  a  harbor  or  river  mouth  from  the  Elbe  round  to  the 
Garonne  that  had  not  been  the  scene  of  incursions  by  the  north¬ 
ern  vikings.  Like  those  who  attacked  England,  they  came,  not 
only  to  plunder,  but  to  settle.  With  a  single  exception  their 
settlements  were  small ;  and  receiving  no  reenforcements  from 
outside,  the  settlers  at  length  became  merged  into  the  surrounding 
population  and  their  identity  and  language  were  lost. 

The  exception  was  in  northern  Gaul  or  France.  The  invaders 
in  large  numbers  entered  the  mouth  of  the  Seine,  and  after  fifty 
years  or  more  of  warfare  were  strong  enough  to  make  serious  raids 
into  the  surrounding  territory.  In  876  Rollo  (or  Rolf),  the 
Northman,  landed  in  France.  He  was  an  extraordinarily  able 
man,  and  for  thirty-six  years,  it  was  said,  he  ravaged  northern 
France.  In  888  he  besieged  Paris,  but  the  city  was  successfully 
defended  for  about  a  year  by  Odo  (or  Eudes),  Count  of  Paris. 
The  power  of  the  Northmen  became  so  great  that  Charles  the 
Simple  finally  bought  Rollo  off  by  granting  him  territory  which  he 
already  held.  He  also  gave  him  his  daughter  in  marriage,  and 
Rollo  ultimately  became  a  Christian.^  Rollo’s  successors  increased 
the  territory  and  thus  was  founded  Normandy.  The  Northmen 

1  In  1862  Russia  celebrated  the  millennial  of  her  foundation. 

2  There  is  so  much  of  legend  connected  with  Rollo’s  history,  that  it  is  impossible 
to  separate  the  truth.  Indeed  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  there  was  not  more 
than  one  Rollo. 


568 


APPENDIX  I 


speedily  adapted  themselves  to  their  new  conditions,  dropped 
most  of  their  old  customs,  adopted  the  language  of  the  country, 
somewhat  modifying  it,  and  so  forming  Norman-French,  they 
themselves  becoming  Normans  (History,  §  21.) 

The  influence  of  the  Normans  in  France  was  great.  During 
the  long  struggle  between  the  Carolings  (descendants  of  Charles) 
and  the  Dukes  of  Paris,  the  Northmen  at  first  gave  allegiance  to 
the  Teutonic  Carolings,  but  when  they  became  Norman-French 
they  naturally  turned  to  the  French  Dukes  of  Paris.  So  it  came 
about  that  the  powerful  Dukes  of  Normandy  supported  the  Dukes 
of  Paris,  and  as  a  result  Hugh  Capet  became  king  of  France 
(987),  and  his  descendants  sat  on  the  French  throne  for  eight 
hundred  years. 

40.  Normans  in  England,  1066;  In  Italy.  1029-1135. — 
Normandy  was  well  established  and  prosperous  by  the  eleventh 
century,  and  became  itself  a  starting  point  for  expeditions,  of 
which  the  most  conspicuous  was  that  led  by  Duke  William  to 
England  (1066).  Earlier  than  this,  Normans  from  France  settled 
in  southern  Italy,  in  time  gained  Sicily  from  the  Saracens,  who 
had  made  it  one  of  their  conquests,  and  early  in  the  twelfth  cen¬ 
tury  set  up  the  Norman  kingdom  of  Naples,  and  by  1135  they 
controlled  Sicily  and  all  Italy  south  of  Rome. 

41.  Teutonic  Empire  ;  Germany.  897-1125.  —  The  Carolingian 
line  came  to  an  end  in  91 1.  By  this  time,  owing  partly  to  the 
weakness  of  the  emperors ;  partly  to  the  attacks  of  the  Northmen 
on  the  north  and  west,  and  the  Slavs  and  Hungarians  or  Magyars 
on  the  east ;  partly  to  the  Teutonic  love  of  independence  —  strong 
dukes  had  arisen,  kings  all  but  in  name.'  In  the  choice  of  a  king 
recourse  was  now  had  to  election,  and  the  German  nobles  chose 
Conrad  of  Franconia  (911-918).  He  had  little  power,  and  his 
troubled  reign  was  followed  by  that  of  Henry  of  Saxony,  known 
as  Henry  the  Fowler,  who  was  chosen  by  the  nobles  (919). 

42.  Henry  the  Fowler;  919-936. — Henry  was  one  of  the 
great  men  of  the  Middle  Ages.  He  followed  as  far  as  he  could 
the  pblicy  of  Charles  the  Great  and  did  not  attempt  the  impossible. 
He  successfully  repelled  the  invasions  of  the  Northmen  and 

1  The  chief  of  these  duchies  were  Saxony,  Franconia,  Swabia,  and  Bavaria. 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE  569 


Magyars,  and  recovered  for  Germany  Lotharingia  (Lorraine), 
which  remained  German  till  the  eighteenth  century.  He  built 
cities  and  fortresses  and  left  a  strong  kingdom.  In  that  he  es¬ 
tablished  the  margravate  of  Brandenburg,  which  afterwards  de¬ 
veloped  into  the  kingdom  of  Prussia,  he  may  in  a  sense  be  called 
the  founder  of  that  kingdom. 

43.  Otto  the  Great.  936-973.  —  Henry  was  succeeded  by  his 

son,  Otto  I,  the  Great.  Otto’s  first  wife  was  Edith,  daughter  of 

Edward  the  Elder  of  England^  (901-925).  Otto  acquired  by 

policy  what  he  could  not  acquire  by  force.  He  managed  to 

gain  control  of  the  great  duchies  and  greatly  increased  the  power 
of  the  crown. ^  It  was  natural  that  he  should  wish  to  restore 
the  empire.  The  condition  of  Italy,  now  in  a  state  of  anarchy, 
was  favorable  for  carrying  out  such  a  scheme.  He  was  ap¬ 
pealed  to  by  the  Pope  for  aid,  and  in  962  was  crowned  by  him 
Emperor  at  Rome.®  Otto  had  been  crowned  at  Aachen  (936) 
with  the  silver  crown  of  Germany;  at  Pavia  (962)  with  the  iron 
crown  of  Lombardy ;  and  now  with  the  golden  crown  of  the 
Empire. 

The  results  of  this  coronation  were  far-reaching.  It  brought 
Italy  and  Germany,  two  incongruous  elements,  together  politically, 
and  in  consequence  the  emperors  were  led  into  numerous  Italian 
campaigns;  into  struggles  with  the  Papacy;  and  too  often  to 
neglect  or  undervalue  what  should  have  been  their  chief  work  — ■ 
the  unification  of  Germany.  The  outcome  was  a  divided  Ger¬ 
many  even  to  our  own  day.  The  coronation  of  Otto,  moreover, 
was  the  real  beginning  of  the  so-called  Holy  Roman  Empire,  the 
ideal  of  which  was  “a  world  monarchy  and  a  world  religion,”  or, 

1  Edward's  four  daughters  married,  respectively,  Charles  the  Simple,  King  of  the 
West  Franks;  Louis,  King  of  Lower  Burgundy;  Hugh  the  Great,  Duke  of 
France;  and  Otto.  Edward’s  successor,  Athelstane  (925-940),  also  had  close  rela¬ 
tions  with  the  continent. 

2  He  seized  lands  where  there  were  no  direct  heirs,  or  he  claimed  that  by  re¬ 
bellion  lands  were  forfeited ;  he  succeeded  by  various  means  in  getting  the  great 
duchies  into  the  hands  of  relatives  who  would  support  him. 

**  No  German  had  received  the  title  since  Arnulf  (896).  From  this  time  ttntil 
the  end,  in  i8o6,  no  one  but  a  German  did  receive  it,  for  Charles  V  was  of  German 
descent. 


5/0 


APPENDIX  I 


that  the  Pope  should  be  the  spiritual  head  of  an  empire  of  which 
the  temporal  head  was  the  emperor^  (§  29). 

44.  Conrad  II  (1024-1039)  ;  Henry  III  (1039-1056).  Under 
Conrad  II  (1024-1039)  and  Henry  III  (1039-1056),  both 
able  men,  the  Medieval  Empire  reached  its  height.  More 
than  others  they  strengthened  their  povver  in  Germany.  One 
of  Henry’s  great  interests  was  the  reform  of  the  church. 
Rome,  and  indeed  Italy,  was  given  over  to  the  selfish  rule 
of  men  and  factions.  At  one  time  (1046)  there  were  three 
rival  Popes,  each  claiming  to  be  the  true  one.  Henry  caused  all 
these  to  be  deposed,  and  his  own  nominee  to  be  chosen,  and  dur¬ 
ing  the  rest  of  his  reign  nominated  the  Popes  himself. 

Henry  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Henry  IV,  a  boy  six  years  old, 
whose  long  reign  of  fifty  years  (1056-1106)  was  marked  by  disaster. 
Henry,  by  no  means  a  weak  man,  was  the  victim  of  circumstances. 
At  Canossa,  North  Italy  (IO’J^),  he  suffered  a  great  humiliation  in 
begging  forgiveness  from  Pope  Gregory  VH,  and  in  1106  was 
compelled  to  abdicate.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Henry  V 
(1106-1125),  who  married  Matilda,  daughter  of  Henry  I  of 
England. 

45.  Frederick  Barbarossa  (i  15  2-1 190).  —  Frederick  Barbarossa 
(Red  Beard)  is  a  most  interesting  character.  He  had  a  great  de¬ 
sire  to  restore  the  Roman  Empire  and  claimed  to  have  received 
the  crown  by  divine  right.  He  attempted  an  impossible  task,  but 
his  efforts  were  marked  by  courage  and  well-directed,  well-sustained 
plans.  He  was  “  the  most  imposing,  the  most  heroic,  and  the 
most  brilliant  of  the  long  line  of  German  princes  who  strove  to 
realize  the  impracticable  but  glorious  political  ideal  of  the  Middle 
Ages.”  He  is  one  of  the  great  heroes  of  Germany,  and  after  his 
death  it  was  said  that  he  was  only  waiting  to  reappear  and  establish 
a  great  empire.  His  contest  with  the  Italian  cities,  and  his  death 
on  a  crusade  are  noticed  elsewhere. 

46.  The  Emperors  and  the  Popes  ;  Growth  of  the  Papal  Power.  — 
Owing  to  the  character  of  the  Popes  and  the  condition  of  Rome 

,  and ‘Italy,  the  emperors  had  the  upper  hand.  But  during  the 

■  This  name  gave  rise  to  Voltaire’s  famous  saying,  that  the  empire  was 
“  neither  holy,  nor  Roman,  nor  an  empire.” 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE  571 


eleventh  century  strong  men  occupied  the  papal  chair,  the  power 
of  the  church  increased,  and  a  long  struggle  between  the  empire 
and  the  church  for  the  supremacy  was  the  result  —  a  struggle  which 
caused  much  suffering,  misery,  and  bloodshed. 

The  growth  of  the  influence  and  power  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome 
was  gradual.  It  was  greatly  helped  by  Rome  ceasing  to  be  the 
political  capital,  for  as  a  result  the  Bishop,  later  to  be  called 
Pope,'  became  the  chief  official  in  the  city.  Moreover,  it  was 
universally  believed  that  the  Apostle  Peter  had  been  the  first 
Bishop  of  Rome,  and  hence  had  conferred  upon  that  church 
special  distinction.  It  was  not  till’ the  fifth  century  that  the  Pope, 
Leo  the  Great  (440-461),  took  a  commanding  position.  It  is  true 
that  before  his  time  Rome  was  recognized  as  the  head  of  the 
Western  church,  but,  in  what  the  headship  consisted  is  not  easy 
to  define.  The  Pope  had  three  functions  :  (i)  Bishop  of  Rome  ; 
(2)  head  of  the  Western  church  ;  (3)  temporal  ruler  over  ter¬ 
ritory.  It  was  certain  that  occasions  would  arise  v/hen  these 
functions  would  conflict.  It  is  contrary  to  human  experience 
that  one  man  should  possess  the  qualifications  needful  for  each 
one  of  these  positions.  It  takes  but  a  cursory  review  of  history  to 
show  that  many,  if  not  most,  of  the  difficulties  of  the  church  arose 
from  this  threefold  position  of  the  Pope.^  It  was,  again,  from 
the  often  honest  but  mistaken  attempt  to  carry  out  these  functions 
that  many  of  the  deplorable  occurrences  which  mark  the  history 
of  the  medieval  church  took  place. 

Gregory  I  (590-604)  perhaps  first  set  forth  what  the  Papacy 
might  become,  and  a  succession  of  able  pontiffs  did  much  to 
carry  out  his  ideas.  He  governed  Rome  and  protected  it  from 
the  Lombards,  and  thus  began  the  active  temporal  power  of  the 
Pope.  Gregory  was  greatly  interested  in  extending  the  bounds 

1  The  word  Pope  is  from  the  Italian  papa,  father.  It  was  originally  applied  to 
all  priests,  and  was  not  applied  especially  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome  until  some  time  in 
the  sixth  century,  and  was  not  confined  to  him  until  the  eleventh  century. 

2  A  deeply  religious  man  is  not  a  character  to  cope  with  an  unruly  and  factious 
population,  or  with  the  subtle  policy  of  a  trained  and  unprincipled  diplomat. 
Neither  is  he  one  to  plan  a  military  campaign,  or  to  face  some  of  the  problems  of 
political  government.  Yet  during  medieval  times  in  particular  Popes  were  forced 
to  meet  such  conditions. 


572 


APPENDIX  I 


of  Christianity,  especially  by  means  of  missions.  To  him  the 
conversion  of  England  is  largely  due  (History,  §  14).  Strong  as 
was  the  empire  at  times,  it  never  had  any  effective  power  beyond 
its  own  limits,  but  the  church  from  its  very  nature  influenced  all 
nations  where  Christianity  prevailed.  The  practice  of  appealing 
to  Rome  for  advice  or  settlement  of  difficulties,  not  only  religious, 
but  also  political,  naturally  grew  up.  All  this  tended  to  increase 
the  influence  of  the  church.  This  influence  was  strengthened 
by  the  publication  of  Pope  Nicholas  I  (858-867)  of  documents 
called  “  Decretals,”  which  ascribed  extensive  powers  to  the 
Pope.  These  powers  were  easily  extended  to  a  vast  number  of 
cases,  as  the  line  between  temporal  and  spiritual  was  not  easy  to 
draw. 

47.  Rise  of  Monasticism.  —  Another  institution  which  exercised 
a  great  and  far-reaching  influence  was  monasticism  (History, 
§  100).  This  system,  already  spoken  of  in  some  of  its  phases, 
took  its  rise  in  the  East.  The  fundamental  idea  is  that  seclusion 
from  the  world  and  its  temptations  is  the  only  way  to  attain  the 
purest  and  highest  spiritual  life.  The  rough  and  turbulent  condi¬ 
tions  which  followed  the  advent  of  the  Barbarians  intensified  the 
feeling.  Within  the  walls  of  the  monastery  or  convent  alone 
could  the  weak,  the  gentle,  the  pious,  the  studious  hope  to  find 
rest  and  safety,  for  even  the  rude  warriors,  as  a  general  thing, 
respected  a  convent.  To  establish  and  to  enrich  such  institutions 
was  believed  to  be  commendable,  and  monarchs,  as  well  as  indi¬ 
viduals,  bestowed  upon  them  money,  land,  and  privileges. 

48.  Rule  of  St.  Benedict.  528.  —  By  the  sixth  century  the 
number  of  monks  had  increased  so  much  in  Europe  that  a  system 
of  regulations  to  govern  them  was  greatly  needed.  This  was  fur¬ 
nished  by  St.  Benedict,  who  about  528  drew  up  a  series  of  rules 
for  the  great  establishment  of  Monte  Cassino  near  Naples.  This 
system  was  so  well  devised  and  practical  that  the  “  Rule  of 
St.  Benedict  ”  rapidly  spread  and  became  the  prevailing  law  for 
monastic  communities  in  Europe.  The  chief  requirements  under 
this  ‘system  were  poverty,  chastity,  obedience,  piety,  and  labor.* 

1  Poverty  applied  only  to  the  individual ;  the  community  could  acquire  property 
without  restriction,  and  many  monasteries  became  very  wealthy.  Labor  was  an 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE 


573 


49.  Benefits  of  Monasticism.  —  Europe  owes  an  immense  debt 
to  these  monks.  By  copying  manuscripts  they  preserved  much 
classical  and  ecclesiastical  literature,  which  else  would  have  been 
lost ;  they  afforded  scholars  a  place  in  which  to  work  in  safety ; 
they  set  a  good  example  of  intelligent  labor  by  their  personal 
share  in  it ;  they  were  hospitable  ;  they  cared  for  the  poor ;  they 
taught  the  youth  of  the  neighborhood ;  in  many  other  ways  also 
they  helped  to  civilize  and  to  soften  the  rudeness  of  the  age.  In 
later  times,  partly  from  the  changed  conditions  of  social  life, 
partly  from  the  influence  of  great  acquired  wealth,  they  often  fell 
from  their  high  estate,  and  no  longer  exercised  the  beneficial  in¬ 
fluence  of  earlier  days.^ 

The  monks  were  naturally  supporters  of  the  Papacy,  and  had  it 
not  been  for  their  presence  in  every  Christian  country  the  papal 
influences  would  have  been  very  much  less  strong.  In  addition 
to  their  other  duties  the  monks  were  great  missionaries,  and  to 
them  the  conversion  of  the  Teutonic  tribes  is  due.- 

50.  Cluniac  Rule.  —  By  the  ninth  century  the  Benedictine  Rule 
had  lost  very  much  of  its  force.  Often  the  abbots  were  worldly 
men,  and  the  accumulated  wealth  was  largely,  used  for  the  enjoy¬ 
ment  of  the  monks  ;  instead  of  working  themselves,  they  employed 
others ;  and  the  spiritual  life  was  often  at  a  very  low  ebb.  A 
reform  or  revival  moment  began  in  the  latter  part  of  the  tenth 
century  at  the  abbey  of  Cluny  in  Burgundy,®-  which  was  founded 
in  910.  From  this  monastery  a  wave  of  reform  passed  over 
Europe.  Old  monasteries  were  reformed  and  new  ones  set  up. 
The  Cluniac  system  differed  from  the  Benedictine  in  some  essential 
features,  one  of  which  was  that  every  Cluniac  establishment  was 
part  of  a  great  system  known  as  the  “  Congregation  of  Cluny.” 

essential  part  of  the  Benedictine  system.  Every  one  was  to  work  according  to  liis 
mental  and  physical  capacity.  As  compared  with  eastern  systems,  the  Benedictine 
was  full  of  common  sense. 

'  The  Benedictine  Rule  was  carried  into  England  by  St.  Augustine  (597),  and 
among  the  earliest  foundations  were  Canterbury,  St.  Albans,  Westminster,  Glaston¬ 
bury,  and  Jarrow. 

2  The  monks  were  called  the  “  regular  "  clergy,  because  they  lived  according  to 
a  rule  {regula),  to  distinguish  them  from  "secular”  clergy,  who  continued  to  live 
in  the  world  (saculum)  and  took  no  monastic  vows. 

8  About  thirty  miles  southwest  of  Dijon,  France. 


574 


APPENDIX  I 


In  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries  other  orders  were  formed, 
in  some  respects  stricter  than  the  Cluniac.  Such  were  the 
Carthusians  (1084);  the  Cistercians  (1098);  and  the  Carmelites 
(1156).  In  the  thirteenth  century  arose  the  Franciscans  and 
Dominicans  who  are  spoken  of  elsewhere  (§§  70,  71).  The  Cluniac 
Rule  not  only  called  for  a  distinct  separation  of  the  church  from 
any  secular  control,  but  also  made  the  church  supreme. 

51.  Hildebrand  (Gregory  VII)  (1020  ? -1085). — The  church 
found  an  extraordinarily  able  champion  of  this  position  in  Hilde¬ 
brand  (io20?-io85),  afterwards  Pope  Gregory  VII.  Hilde¬ 
brand  was  the  son  of  a  Tuscan  peasant  and  was  educated  in  a 
Roman  monastery.  He  became  the  chaplain  of  Gregory  VI ;  the 
advisor  of  Nicholas  II ;  and  then  Pope  himself  as  Gregory  VII 
(1073-1085).  Hildebrand,  though  not  the  originator  of  the  new 
doctrines,  dared  to  carry  them  further  than  any  one  else  toward 
their  logical  conclusion.  Having  directed  the  policy  of  the 
Papacy  for  years  before  he  came  to  the  throne,  he  understood  the 
condition  of  affairs  far  more  clearly  than  most  men,  and  saw  that 
in  order  to  make  the  church  supreme  it  must  choose  its  own  head 
—  the  Pope  —  independently  of  Roman  emperor  or  Roman 
populace.  This  point  was  gained  under  Nicholas  H  by  a  decree 
of  the  Lateran  Council  or  Synod  (1059),  by  which  the  choice  of  a 
Pope  was  intrusted  to  the  College  of  Cardinals.' 

52.  Celibacy  of  the  Clergy.  —  In  order  to  bind  the  interests  of 
the  clergy  more  closely  to  the  church,  he  resolved  to  enforce  the 
celibacy  of  the  clergy,  so  that  no  family  ties  might  divide  their 
attention.  There  had  been  from  comparatively  early  days  a 
strong  but  by  no  means  universal  feeling  in  the  church  that  it  was 
better  that  the  clergy  should  be  unmarried.  At  various  times 
efforts  had  been  made  to  enforce  celibacy,  but  in  vain.  Not¬ 
withstanding  great  opposition  Gregory  persisted,  and  before  he 
died  success  was  practically  assured. 

1  Previous  to  this  time  the  cardinals  were  the  principal  clergy  of  the  Roman 
diocese  who,  when  called  upon  by  the  Pope,  acted  as  his  advisors.  It  was  a  title, 
not  an  office.  This  action  of  1059  was  only  the  beginning ;  the  system  was  not 
fully  developed  for  a  century.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  Hildebrand  himself  was 
chosen  Pope  (1073),  not  by  the  cardinals,  but  by  the  Roman  populace  after  the  old 
fashion. 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE 


575 


53.  The  Church  and  the  Civil  Power.  —  Another  and  more  im¬ 
portant  matter  was  the  effort  to  gain  for  the  church  absolute 
freedom  from  the  control  of  the  civil  government  everywhere. 
Gregory  claimed  that  the  Pope,  as  God’s  representative  upon 
earth,  was  the  master  of  emperors,  kings,  and  rulers.  To 
resist  the  Pope  was  to  resist  God.^  The  great  weapons  to 
enforce  this  position  were  excommunication  or  expulsion  from 
the  church,  making  the  excommunicated  one  an  outlaw;  and 
the  mterdict,  by  which  all  religious  services  in  a  country  ex¬ 
cept  baptism  and  extreme  unction  were  suspended.  This  effort 
involved  the  extinction  of  simony,  for  there  would  be  no  oppor¬ 
tunity  of  buying  or  selling  benefices  if  the  matter  of  appoint¬ 
ment  or  investiture  was  taken  out  of  lay  hands. 

54.  Gregory’s  Claims  ;  Investitures.  —  It  was  inevitable  that 
these  claims  of  Gregory  should  precipitate  a  conflict.  Many 
bishoprics,  monasteries,  abbeys,  and  other  religious  foundations  held 
lands  as  fiefs  under  conditions  similar  to  those  of  a  duke,  baron, 
or  ordinary  lay  feudal  lord.  The  church,  indeed,  was  the  largest 
landholder  in  Christendom.  If  Gregory’s  plan  should  be  carried 
out,  all  feudal  ties  which  had  hitherto  bound  ecclesiastical  fiefs  to 
temporal  lords  would  be  loosed.  Besides  this,  Gregory  forbade 
any  cleric  to  accept  any  spiritual  fief  from  a  layman,  and  also  for¬ 
bade,  under  pain  of  excommunication,  any  layman,  whatever 
his  rank,  from  investing  a  bishop  or  abbot  with  his  ecclesiastical 
office. 

This  edict  (1075)  was  revolutionary,  and  could  not  be  accepted 
by  the  temporal  rulers,  for  it  would  mean  the  downfall  of  their 
civil  power.  The  result  everywhere  was  struggle.  It  was  not 
until  the  Concordat  of  Worms  (1122)  that  a  compromise  was 
reached,  practically  on  the  same  basis  as  that  agreed  upon  (1106) 
by  Henry  I  of  England  and  Anselm  (History,  §  53).  But  this 
applied  only  to  Germany.^  The  great  conflict  between  the 

r  Gregory  claimed  homage  from  William  the  Conqueror  and  from  the  rulers  of 
Bohemia,  Hungary,  Denmark,  Spain,  and  even  Russia. 

2  The  agreement  between  Pope  Calixtus  II  and  the  Emperor  Henry  V  was  that 
the  emperor  gave  up  his  claim  to  invest  with  the  insignia  of  the  spiritual  office,  and 
the  Pope  his  claim  to  invest  with  the  temporal  power.  This,  however,  left  many 
questions  unsettled. 


576 


APPENDIX  I 


churcli  and  temporal  powers  is  known  as  the  “  Struggle  of  the 
Investitures.” 

Gregory  made  a  practice  of  sending  legates  to  the  different 
European  courts  to  represent  the  papacy,  to  supervise  the  clergy, 
to  gain  information  of  the  church  in  various  countries,  and  to  ex¬ 
ercise  an  influence  in  favor  of  the  church  in  all  lands.  Thus  the 
Pope  was  kept  in  touch  with  the  clerics  everywhere. 

55.  Reverses  of  Gregory.  —  Notwithstanding  Gregory’s  great 
success,  he  experienced  a  bitter  reverse  at  the  hands  of  his  old 
foe,  Henry  IV,  whom  he  had  humiliated  at  Canossa  (§  44), 
and  had  twice  excommunicated.  Henry  set  up  an  antipope, 
gained  Rome  after  a  two  years’  siege,  and  Gregory  in  the  end 
took  refuge  at  Salerno,  where  he  relaxed  no  effort  to  regain  his 
position.  He  died  in  1085  and  is  reported  to  have  said,  “  I  have 
loved  righteousness,  and  hated  iniquity,  therefore  I  die  an  exile.”  '■ 

56.  The  Eastern  Empire  a  Bulwark  ;  its  Culture.  —  The  Eastern 
Empire,  weak  as  it  was,  served  as  a  bulwark  between  Europe  and 
the  eastern  and  northeastern  Barbarians.  Though  it  had  lost 
most  of  its  territory  and  several  times  had  seemed  on  the  point 
of  extinction,  it  survived,  and,  now  and  then,  under  able  em¬ 
perors,  possessed  considerable  power.  Moreover  the  empire  not 
only  served  as  a  bulwark,  but,  at  Constantinople,  had  preserved 
during  the  early  Middle  Ages  civilization,  general  refinement  of 
life,  the  arts,  and  literature  in  a  far  greater  degree  than  else¬ 
where. 

57.  The  Seljuk  Turks,  1071  ;  their  Conquests.  —  A  period  of 
anarchy  prevailed  during  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century,  of¬ 
fering  a  good  opportunity  to  the  enemies  of  the  Eastern  Empire 
for  attacking  her.  In  1071  the  Seljuk  Turks^  conquered  Asia 
Minor  and  threatened  Constantinople.  The  Emperor  Alexius  I,  a 
shrewd  and  crafty  man,  who  had  seized  the  throne  in  1081,  did 

*  Gregory  was  one  of  the  great  men  of  history.  He  was,  however,  a  statesman 
rather  than  a  prelate,  and  would  have  been  more  in  place  as  emperor  than  as  Pope. 
His  honesty  of  motive  can  scarcely  be  questioned,  and  he  can  hardly  be  blamed 
for  attempting  the  impossible.  As  it  is,  his  influence  on  the  church  and  on  the 
world  has  been  lasting. 

-  The  Seljuk  Turks  were  a  rude  and  rough  people  from  central  Asia.  They  are 
to  be  distinguished  from  the  Ottoman  Turks  of  a  later  day. 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE  577 


his  best  to  drive  the  Turks  from  Asia  Minor,  but  without  suc¬ 
cess.  In  1095  Alexius  sent  ambassadors  to  Pope  Urban  II,  beg¬ 
ging  him  to  rouse  Christendom  to  save  the  Eastern  Empire  and 
church.^ 

For  centuries  Jerusalem  and  its  holy  places  had  been  the  object 
of  pilgrimages  by  thousands  from  Europe.  Under  the  rule  of  the 
Arabs  these  pilgrims  had  for  the  most  part  been  welcomed.  But 
the  Seljuk  Turks,  who  gained  Jerusalem  in  1076,  though  Moham¬ 
medans,  cared  nothing  for  civilization  or  holy  places,  and  looked 
upon  the  pilgrims  as  intruders  to  be  plundered,  tortured,  and 
killed.  So  pilgrimages  were  roughly  brought  to  an  end,  much  to 
the  grief  and  dismay  of  Europeans. 

58.  Council  of  Clermont.  1095.  —  The  appeal  of  Alexius  was 
welcomed  by  Urban,  and  at  the  conclusion  of  a  council  at  Cler¬ 
mont,  France,  November,  1095,  ^  crusade  was  proclaimed  by  a 
speech  from  the  Pope  himself  As  this  speech  was  delivered  in 
French  it  was  understood  by  all,  and  certainly,  as  has  been  said, 
“  No  other  oration  has  ever  been  able  to  boast  of  as  wonderful 
results.”  The  people  shouted,  “  God  wills  it,”  and  rushed  to 
assume  the  cross,  the  symbol  of  the  vow.^  Thus  began  one  of  the 
greatest  movements  in  the  history  —  the  Crusades.®  Although  the 
safety  of  the  Eastern  Empire  and  the  church  had  been  the  plea 
of  the  emperor,  the  Pope  and  the  crusaders  ignored  that  and  made 
the  recovery  of  the  holy  places  from  the  infidels  the  first  object  of 
their  efforts. 

59.  The  Crusades,  1096-1290;  Reasons  for  Them.  —  It  has 
been  customary  to  speak  of  several  crusades,  and  even  as  many  as 
eight  are  named.  But  this  is  scarcely  correct,  for  there  was  for 
about  two  hundred  years  (1096-1 290)  a  constant  movement  from 
west  to  east,  and  in  fact  a  crusade  was  always  in  progress. 

This  great  movement  was  begun  and  carried  on  from  various 

'  The  Eastern  Empire  had  already  called  upon  Gregory  VII  (1074),  who  had 
actually  raised  an  army,  but  was  prevented  by  the  German  troubles  from  doing  any¬ 
thing. 

2  “  Crusade,”  from  the  Latin  crux,  a  cross.  Each  crusader  bore  a  cross  worked 
or  sewn  upon  his  coat. 

*  It  is  often  stated  that'Peler  the  Hermit  started  the  movement,  but  records  show 
that  it  was  Urban  who  roused  Peter,  not  the  reverse. 


578 


APPENDIX  I 


motives.  While  many  men  were  inspired  with  religious  zeal,  others 
saw  opportunities  for  satisfying  their  love  of  warfare  and  adventure, 
some  saw  an  escape  from  financial  or  other  difficulties  at  home, 
others  an  escape  from  the  consequences  of  crime,  many  others  a 
field  for  commercial  gain,  and  others  went  simply  from  a  feeling 
of  restlessness.  The  Pope  and  church  officials  hoped  for  an  ex¬ 
tension  of  the  church,  and  perhaps  a  union  of  the  eastern  and 
western  churches ;  the  kings  and  the  greater  barons  encouraged 
the  movement,  because  thereby  many  of  the  smaller  barons  would 
be  taken  out  of  the  country,  their  possessions  would  be  pledged  to 
raise  money,  and  would  ultimately  come  under  the  control,  if  not 
ownership,  of  the  monarch  or  great  barons.  The  church  relieved 
the  crusader  from  penance  for  sins,  excused  him  while  absent 
from  interest  on  his  debts,  took  his  wife  and  children  and  property 
under  its  protection,  and  granted  many  other  privileges. 

Along  with  the  penitent,  the  knight,  and  adventurer,  particularly 
after  the  earlier  years,  went  the  merchants.  These  were  chiefly 
from  Genoa,  Pisa,  and  Venice.  They  furnished  the  crusader  with 
arms  and  supplies  ;  for  these  they  not  only  exacted  very  full  prices, 
but  also  great  privileges  and  rewards  in  case  of  conquests.  The 
commercial  features  of  the  Crusades  have  been  too  much  over¬ 
looked. 

60.  First  Expeditions.  1096.  —  The  first  expeditions,  which 
consisted  of  extraordinary  armies  of  untrained,  undisciplined  men 
of  all  kinds  and  descriptions,  ^  started  from  Germany  in  the  spring 
of  1 1096,  marched  to  Constantinople,  and  having  been  aided  by 
the  wily  Alexius,  who  wished  to  be  rid  of  them,  crossed  over  into 
Asia  Minor,  where  most  of  them  perished  from  exposure  and  dis¬ 
ease,  or  at  the  hands  of  the  Turks.  Later  in  the  year  (1096) 
several  military  expeditions  left  Europe  under  different  leaders, 
the  chief  of  whom  were  Godfrey  of  Boulogne,  ^  and  Bohemond, 
son  of  Robert  Guiscard,  the  Norman,  of  southern  Italy.  Robert 
of  Normandy,  son  of  William  the  Conqueror,  was  also  one  of  them. 
Indeed,  the  majority  of  the  knights  were  French  and  Normans. 
These  expeditions  went  overland,  and  met  near  Nicsea,  Asia  Minor, 

1  Even  women  and  children  helped  to  swell  the  ranks. 

2  Often,  but  incorrectly,  called  Bouillon. 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE 


579 


in  1097.  After  gaining  control  of  that  city,  the  expedition  marched 
to  Antioch,  which  was  taken  in  July,  1098,  and  Jerusalem  itself  in 
1099.  Thus  the  ostensible  object  was  gained. 

61.  Kingdom  of  Jerusalem  (1099-1187)  ;  its  Extent  and  Char¬ 
acter.  — ^  A  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  was  set  up,  and  other  lands  were 
acquired  until  there  was  under  control  of  the  Franks  a  strip  of  ter¬ 
ritory  in  Syria  along  the  Mediterranean  a  little  over  five  hundred 
miles  long  and  about  fifty  miles  wide.'  The  Europeans  were,  with 
the  exception  of  the  Italian  merchants,  almost  wholly  French. 
Altogether  they  were  few  in  number  compared  with  the  Syrians. 
The  territory  was  occupied  rather  than  owned.  As  time  went  on 
the  relations  with  the  Moslems  grew  more  friendly,  commerce 
with  Europe  increased,  and  the  carrying  to  and  fro  of  the  numer¬ 
ous  pilgrims  became  a  profitable  business  for  the  merchants  whose 
interests  made  them  averse  to  war. 

All  this  time  it  was  the  divisions  among  the  Moslems  rather 
than  the  strength  of  the  Franks  that  allowed  the  continuance  of 
the  Frankish  rule.  The  crusaders  were  imbued  with  the  spirit  of 
feudalism,  so  that,  where  if  ever  a  strong  central  goverment  was 
needed,  a  well-developed  feudal  system  was  established  with  all 
its  disintegrating  influences. 

For  the  help  of  the  pilgrims  and  for  the  defence  of  the  Holy 
Sepulcher  at  Jerusalem,  military  religious  orders  were  founded  — 
the  Templars,  the  Hospitallers,  and  the  Teutonic  Knights.^  These 
orders  were  intended  to  combine  the  monk  and  soldier.  For 
many  years  the  first  two  of  these  orders  exercised  great  influence, 
and  acquired  great  power  and  wealth. 

For  fifty  years  the  Frankish  principalities  continued  with  com¬ 
paratively  little  change.  Then  Edessa,  a  great  stronghold  of  the' 
Franks,  fell  (1144)  before  a  Moslem  leader  who  had  united  the 

'  All  Europeans  were  called  Franks  by  the  Orientals.  Besides  the  small  king¬ 
dom  of  Jerusalem,  going  northward,  there  were  the  principalities  of  Tripolis,  An¬ 
tioch,  and  Edessa,  each  under  a  crusading  noble. 

2  The  Templars  (1119),  so  called  from  the  temple  of  Solomon  near  the  site  of 
which  was  their  dwelling-place  in  Jerusalem ;  Hospitallers,  from  the  Hospital  of 
St.  John  in  Jerusalem,  where  the  brotherhood  originally  nursed  the  sick ;  this  broth¬ 
erhood  afterwards  bore  the  titles  Knights  of  St.  John,  and  Knights  of  Malta.  It  is 
still  in  existence.  The  Teutonic  Knights  were  a  German  order. 


580 


APPENDIX  I 


Turks.  This  disaster  led  to  the  so-called  second  crusade  urged  by 
St.  Bernard.  The  expedition  however,  was  a  dismal  failure. 

62.  Saladin  (1137-1192). —  The  relation  of  the  Franks  with  the 
Moslems  in  Egypt  had  been  for  the  most  part  friendly.  There 
had,  however,  arisen  in  Egypt  an  able  leader,  who,  though  nom¬ 
inally  under  the  Turks,  was  practically  independent.  This  was 
Saladin,  the  most  upright,  the  ablest,  the  most  enlightened,  and 
most  generous  of  the  foes  whom  the  crusaders  had  met.  He 
wished  to  live  on  good  terms  with  the  Franks,  but  they  often  vio¬ 
lated  their  pledges.'  At  length  Saladin  attacked  them,  and  in 
1187  took  Jerusalem.  This  led  to  the  third  crusade,  in  which 
Richard  I  of  England,  Philip  Augustus  of  France,  and  Frederick 
Barbarossa  all  took  part.  Frederick  went  by  land,^  Richard  and 
Philip  by  sea.  The  early  expeditions  had  all  been  overland  by 
way  of  Asia  Minor;  the  later  ones  went  by  sea  —  a  much  safer  as 
well  as  shorter  journey.  Many  vessels  were  needed  for  transpor¬ 
tation  ;  this  led  to  the  building  of  many  ships,  to  improvements  in 
their  construction,  to  the  increase  of  skilled  mariners,  and  to  the 
growth  of  commerce.  Richard  and  Philip  Augustus  quarreled 
after  the  capture  of  Acre  (1191),  Philip  returned  to  France,  and 
Richard  in  1192  arranged  a  truce  with  Saladin  by  which  pilgrims 
could  visit  Jerusalem  in  safety. 

63.  End  of  Christian  Rule  in  Syria.  1191. — The  Chris¬ 
tians  continued  to  hold  territory  in  Syria  for  nearly  a  century 
longer;  by  negotiation,  possession  was  gained  even  of  Jerusalem 
and  a  few  other  sacred  sites,  but  in  1244  Jerusalem  was  captured 
by  the  Turks,  and  has  ever  since  remained  in  their  hands.  In 
1291  Acre,  the  last  stronghold  of  the  Christians,  fell,  and  with  it 
all  Christian  possessions  in  Syria  and  Palestine  were  lost. 

64.  Latin  Empire  of  the  East.  (1204-1261).  —  Whatis  known 
as  the  fourth  crusade  (1202-1204)  differs  from  the  others  in  that 
it  not  only  never  reached  its  nominal  destination,  but  was,  by  the 
skill  of  the  Venetians,  who  had  agreed  to  transport  the  forces, 

1  It  was  a  common  doctrine  of  the  day  that  no  pledge  with  an  infidel  was  binding. 

2  Frederick  naturally  took  the  overland  route.  In  attempting  to  cross  the  river 
Selef  (Cydnus)  in  Asia  Minor  he  was  drowned  (1190),  and  of  his  demoralized 
army  many  returned  to  Germany  by  sea,  and  a  remnant  only  reached  Syria. 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE  58 1 


changed  into  an  attack  upon  Constantinople,  with  the  result  of 
setting  up  a  Latin  Empire  in  that  capital,  which  lasted  for  more 
than  fifty  years  (1204-1261),  and  also  of  vastly  increasing  the 
possessions  and  commercial  influence  of  Venice,  which  she  re¬ 
tained  until  the  fifteenth  century. 

65.  Results  of  the  Crusades.- — It  is  not  easy  to  measure  the 
extent  of  the  influence  of  the  crusades  upon  Europe.  They 
certainly  aided  and  hastened  many  inevitable  social  and  political 
changes.  Great  numbers  of  men  from  all  countries  of  Europe 
visited  the  East ;  they  had  gone  both  by  land  and  by  water ;  they 
saw  a  great  variety  of  life  and  conditions  and  came  back  with 
minds  broadened  by  their  experiences'  and  observation.  They 
met  people  far  more  civilized  than  themselves,  having  comforts 
and  luxuries  of  which  they  had  been  ignorant;  they  met  men 
of  education  and  refinement,  and,  returning  full  of  new  ideas,  they 
could  not  rest  satisfied  with  their  old  conditions.  They  brought 
back  many  articles  of  use  and  luxury.  Commerce  was  greatly 
increased,  the  communication  between  various  countries  became 
more  frequent,  and  definite  and  regular  lines  of  travel  and  trade 
were  established. 

The  crusades  greatly  enriched  Venice,  Genoa,  and  Pisa,  and 
indeed  all  Italy,  giving  it  that  preeminence  in  commerce,  litera¬ 
ture,  and  art  which  so  profoundly  affected  all  Europe. 

The  crusades  weakened  feudalism,  and  brought  into  existence, 
or  strengthened,  elements  which  led  to  its  steady  decline  and 
permanent  decay.  Men  became  enamored  of  city  life,  turning 
more  and  more  to  trade  and  manufacturing,  the  tendency  of 
which  is  to  destroy  feudalism. 

We  may  also  trace  modern  systems  of  banking  and  finance  to 
the  crusades.  Under  feudalism  there  was  little  need  of  money  or 
banks,  but  for  the  crusader  money  or  its  equivalent  was  a  necessity. 
He  must  buy  his  outfit  and  he  must  pay  for  his  supplies  on  the 
journey  with  money  of  some  kind.  Hence  arose  money  lenders 
and  banks. 

One  remarkable  feature  of  the  crusades  was  the  absence  of  con¬ 
certed  effort.  Each  king  or  leader  looked  out  first  and  always 
for  his  own  interests,  a  practice  which  led  to  constant  quarreling. 


APPENDIX  I 


582 

Bad  as  this  was  for  the  crusade,  it  intensified  national  feeling,  and 
greatly  aided  the  growth  of  nationalities. 

The  crusades  ceased  for  several  reasons.  One  of  the  most  in¬ 
fluential  was  the  general  advance  in  civilization  and  in  the  comforts 
of  life,  which  made  men  reluctant  to  leave  their  homes.  Other 
reasons  were  the  growth  in  tolerance,  the  recognition  that  God 
could  be  served  in  better  ways  than  by  making  pilgrimages,  the 
increase  in  commercial  enterprises,  and  the  much  greater  attrac¬ 
tion  of  national  and  international  affairs. 

66.  Origin  of  Towns ;  Rise  of  Cities  and  Towns.  —  The  gen¬ 
eral  confusion  which  resulted  from  the  inroads  of  the  barbarians 
was  not  conducive  to  tofvn  life,  and  until  after  the  close  of  the 
first  crusade  (1099)  European  towns  were  of  little  importance.^ 
From  the  twelfth  century,  however,  the  rise  and  development  of 
town  life  is  a  most  important  feature  in  European  history.  The 
origin  of  some  towns,  as  was  the  case  even  in  England,  went  back 
to  Greek  or  Roman  times,  but  the  majority  were  founded  after 
the  eleventh  century.  These  owe  their  existence  either  to  trade 
or  manufacturing.  Sometimes  a  village,  built  near  a  castle  for 
protection,  if  well  situated  for  trade,  would  grow  up  into  a  town 
walled  round  for  greater  safety  ;  others,  established  with  special 
privileges  by  the  lord  of  the  manor,  or  because  of  some  river  or 
harbor  or  overland  route,  would  grow  and  for  safety  would  be  pro¬ 
tected  by  walls  and  fortresses.  The  needs  of  the  crusaders  greatly 
hastened  the  growth  of  towns,  as  only  in  such  centers  could  sup¬ 
plies  be  procured. 

The  trade  and  manufacture  which  inevitably  followed  increased 
the  wealth  and  power  of  the  citizens,  brought  them  into  contact 
with  the  outside  world,  and  not  only  increased  their  desires,  but 
enabled  them  successfully  to  demand,  not  only  relief  from  feudal 
burdens,  but  also  extensive  privileges,  which  in  many  cases  led  to 
practical,  if  not  actual,  independence.  Not  only  that,  but  the 
great  commercial  cities  like  Venice,  Genoa,  and  Florence  gained 
large  possessions  elsewhere  and  became  political  states.  Other 
city  communities  for  the  same  reasons  acquired  political  rights 
and  privileges  by  charters. 

1  The  character  of  the  country  life  has  already  been  touched  upon. 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE  583 


67.  Overland  Trade ;  Money.  —  There  also  sprang  up  an  ex¬ 
tensive  overland  trade  with  the  East,  and  also  with  various  parts 
of  Europe,  on  the  lines  of  which  there  grew  up  great  distributing 
towns  such  as  Ulm,  Augsburg,  Nuremburg,  and  many  other  cen¬ 
ters  where  not  only  trade  but  manufacturing  flourished. 

The  influence  of  these  cities  on  social  and  economic  conditions 
can  hardly  be  overestimated.  Their  ships  and  merchants  visiting 
various  countries  brought  many  nations  into  close  communication. 
The  use  of  money  and  bills  of  exchange  in  mercantile  transactions 
led  to  a  great  increase  in  money  payment  for  all  kinds  of  service 
and  for  rents,  and  also  to  definite  contracts  instead  of  the  vague 
and  easily  violated  rules  based  upon  feudal  tenure  or  custom. 

68.  Political  Results  of  Municipal  Life.  —  Though  cities  them¬ 
selves  became  feudal  lords,  the  spirit  of  city  life  was  against  feudal¬ 
ism,  and  monarchs  and  rulers  often  found  in  cities  their  strongest 
support  against  powerful  barons.  Besides  this  the  cities  formed 
leagues  for  mutual  defence  and  to  preserve  and  to  increase  their 
trade  and  commerce.^  They  became  free  and  independent. 
One  of  the  most  notable  examples  of  the  power  of  the  medieval 
cities  is  the  struggle  of  Frederick  I  (Barbarossa),  for  the  control 
of  the  North  Italian  or  Lombard  cities.  In  the  end  the  cities 
were  successful  in  gaining  practical  independence  (1183). 

The  close  of  the  twelfth  century  found  all  Europe  greatly  ad¬ 
vanced  in  civilization  and  refinement,  and  with  new  political,  social, 
and  economic  conditions.  The  tendency  was  toward  the  forma¬ 
tion  of  nationalities  with  greater  centralization  of  power.  This 
very  tendency,  however,  increased  the  struggle  for  control  be¬ 
tween  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  powers,  a  conflict  which  reached 
its  height  early  iii  the  thirteenth  century. 

1  The  most  noted  of  these  are  the  Hanseatic  League  (Liibeck,  Hamburg, 
Bremen,  etc.)  begun  in  the  thirteenth  century,  which  later  numbered  eighty-five 
cities  and  controlled  the  commerce  of  northern  Europe;  the  Swabian  League 
(1244) ;  and  the  League  of  the  Rhine  (1254),  which  at  one  time  comprised  about 
sixty  towns. 


CHAPTER  II 


CONTINENTAL  EUROPE  —  1200-1481 

69.  Coming  of  the  Friars.  1220-1224.  — There  had  long  been 
in  the  church  men  and  women  who  gave  themselves,  as  they 
believed,  to  the  service  of  God  by  retiring  into  monasteries  or 
convents,  and  spending  their  lives  in  religious  occupations 
(§  47).  The  principle  upon  which  their  life  was  based  was 
retirement  from  the  world.  Early  in  the  thirteenth  century,  how¬ 
ever,  a  movement  arose  resulting  in  the  establishment  of  new  reli¬ 
gious  orders  known  as  friars.  Their  primary  object  was  exactly 
the  reverse  of  that  of  the  monks.  As  has  been  well  said,  “  The 
monks  had  made  it  their  object  to  save  their  own  souls;  the 
friars  made  it  their  object  to  save  the  bodies  and  souls  of  others.” 
The  monks  withdrew  from  the  world ;  the  friars  threw  themselves 
into  the  midst  of  the  world. 

The  rise  of  the  friars  was  due  to  two  men  far  separated  from 
each  other,  who,  at  about  the  same  time,  were  moved  by  similar 
impulses  —  Francis  of  Assisi,  Italy  (1182-1226),  and  Dominic  of 
Spain  (1170-1221). 

70.  The  Franciscans.  —  Francis,  the  son  of  a  wealthy  man,  after 
a  serious  illness,  had  wholly  changed  the  character  of  his  life. 
He  gave  up  wealth  and  all  its  possibilities,  and  devoted  himself  to 
a  life  of  poverty  and  of  devotion  to  the  sick  and  afflicted  among 
the  poor,  living  entirely  on  the  bounty  of  others.  A  band  of 
followers  like-minded  with  himself  soon  gathered  around  him. 
The  movement  spread,  and  in  1209  the  Pope,  Innocent  III, 
constituted  them  into  an  order  of  brethren,  in  Latin,  fratres, 
from  which  our  word  “  friars  ”  comes.  Later  they  were  called 
Franciscans  after  their  founder,  or  Minorites,  or  Mendicant  Friars.' 

1  “  Minorites,”  from  the  Latin  Fratres  Minores,  or  lesser  brethren ;  Francis  said 
they  were  to  be  less  than  the  least  of  Christ’s  servants.  “  Mendicant "  from  the 
Latin  word  to  beg. 


584 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE 


The  friars  took  the  vow  of  poverty,  and  were  to  beg  their  bread 
from  day  to  day.  As  they  had  nothing  of  their  own  they  could 
appeal  to  the  poorest.  Their  dress  was  a  coarse  robe  tied  round 
the  waist  with  a  rope. 

71.  The  Dominicans.  —  Dominic,  unlike  Francis,  was  a  church¬ 
man  and  student  of  theology.  'His  heart  was  stirred  by  the 
amount  of  heresy  he  found,  particularly  in  southern  France, 
and  he  determined  to  devote  his  life  to  the  extirpation  of  heresy 
and  the  spread  of  orthodox  teaching.  Like  Francis,  his  earnest¬ 
ness  aroused  a  sympathetic  feeling  in  the  hearts  of  others,  and  he 
was  joined  by  a  band  of  followers,  and  in  time  Pope  Innocent  III 
sanctioned  the  formation  of  an  order.  This  rapidly  grew,  and  by 
1221  the  movement  had  attained  large  proportions  and  had 
sixty  monasteries  in  western  Europe.  Like  the  Franciscans,  the 
Preaching  Friars  or  Dominicans  were  to  be  brothers,  and  like 
them  also  they  were  to  be  mendicants,  because  in  this  way  those 
to  whom  they  carried  their  message  would  know  that  they  had  no 
selfish  motives,  and  that  their  only  desire  was  to  win  men  to  Christ, 

72.  Mission  of  the  Friars.  —  Going  about  from  place  to  place, 
the  friars  were  the  carriers  of  news,  they  came  into  the  closest 
contact  with  the  people,  and  understood  the  popular  needs  and 
aspirations  as  no  others  did.  The  lives  of  the  clergy  were  too 
often  marked  by  selfishness,  worldliness,  neglect  of  the  poor 
and  needy,  and  by  political  rather  than  spiritual  interests.  These 
things  had  alienated  very  many  from  the  church.  To  such,  the  un¬ 
selfishness,  the  devotion,  the  tireless  energy,  and  the  practical 
sympathy  of  these  friars  made  a  powerful  appeal. 

The  Franciscans,  while  in  no  way  neglecting  the  country,  de¬ 
voted  themselves  particularly  to  the  slums  of  the  cities  and  towns, 
the  condition  of  which  was  beyond  description.  The  Dominicans, 
whose  chief  mission  was  the  extirpation  of  heresy,  never  were  as 
influential  in  England  as  on  the  Continent,  because  in  England 
heresy  had  not  attained  great  headway.  To  these  mendicant 
orders  is  chiefly  due  the  revival  of  religious  life  in  the  thirteenth 
century. 

Though  Francis  had  condemned  learning  as  hurtful  to  spirit¬ 
uality,  the  contact  with  ignorance,  and  the  fact  that  educated  men 


586 


APPENDIX  I 


were  drawn  into  the  order,  changed  this,  and  the  Franciscans  be¬ 
came  teachers  as  well  as  preachers  and  missionaries. 

73.  Rise  of  Universities. — The  thirteenth  century  was  a  time 
of  great  intellectual  activity.  During  the  troublous  reign  of  Henry 
III,  Oxford  was  one  of  the  great  intellectual  centers  of  Europe. 
Cambridge  also,  though  to  a  less  extent,  was  an  abode  of  learning 
(History,  §  loi).  But  the  higher  education  was  almost  wholly  for 
the  training  of  priests  and  clergy. 

The  course  of  instruction  was  divided  into  seven  main  subjects, 
called  “  the  seven  liberal  arts,”  which  were  subdivided  into  the 
Trivium  and  the  Quadrivium.  The  Trivium  embraced  Grammar, 
or  the  use  of  words  ;  Rhetoric,  or  the  form  of  words ;  and  Logic, 
or  reasoning.  The  Quadrivium  embraced  Arithmetic,  Geometry, 
Astronomy,  and  Music.* 

After  the  seven  liberal  arts  were  mastered,  further  instruction 
was  given  in  Divinity,  Law,  Medicine,  etc.  It  was  natural  that 
the  teachers  of  these  different  subjects  should  associate  together, 
and  from  such  association  sprung  the  university,  and  later  the 
separate  college.^ 

The  student  body  included  men  of  all  ages  from  fifteen  and 
even  younger,  to  forty  and  over.  Special  privileges  were  granted 
them,  and  the  lives  they  led  were  often  full  of  rioting  and  disorder. 
The  universal  use  of  Latin  by  scholars  for  writing  and  speaking 
made  it  easy  for  a  student  to  change  his  university.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  this  fashion  of  wandering  from  university  to  university 
had  a  good  educational  effect  in  widening  the  knowledge  of  persons 
and  places. 

74.  Pope  Innocent  III.  1198-1216.  —  Emperor  Frederick  Bar- 
barossa,  by  the  marriage  of  his  son  Henry,  afterwards  Henry  VI, 
with  Constance,  heiress  of  the  kingdom  of  Sicily,  in  time  gained 
Sicily  and  south  Italy  for  the  empire.  It  was  a  blow  for  the 
Papacy  to  lose  its  Norman  allies.  But  Henry  VI  died  in  iig8> 
leaving  an  infant  son,  afterwards  the  renowned  Frederick  11. 

The  election  of  Innocent  III  to  the  papal  chair  (1198)  gave  the 

1  These  subjects  covered  a  wider  field  than  their  names  denote  at  present. 

*  The  word  'miversitas  (university)  at  first  meant  a  union,  or  corporation,  and 
the  union  or  association  of  teachers  came  to  be  called  a  university. 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE  587 


Papacy  perhaps  its  ablest  head  in  all  history.  He  was  a  member 
of  a  noble  Roman  family,  and  had  been  highly  educated,  studying 
at  both  Paris  and  Bologna.  He  was  only  about  thirty-seven 
when  chosen  Pope,  and  reluctantly  accepted  his  elevation,  but 
when  once  seated  on  the  throne,  no  Pope  surpassed  him  in  his 
claims  for  the  office.  “  As  the  moon,”  he  declared,  “  receiveth 
her  light  from  the  sun,  so  do  kings  receive  their  authority  from  the 
Holy  See.”  That  this  was  no  idle  boast  is  shown  by  what  he 
accomplished.  He  secured  from  Constance,  the  widow  of  Henry 
VI,  guardian  of  Frederick  II,  the  vassalage  of  the  kingdom  of 
Sicily ;  in  opposition  to  Philip  of  Swabia,  who,  elected  by  the 
nobles,  claimed  to  be  emperor,  he  set  up  Otto  of  Brunswick,^  and 
crowned  him  emperor  (1209)  ;  he  forced  Philip  Augustus  of 
France  to  take  back  Ingeborg  of  Denmark,  whom  he  had  divorced  ; 
he  deposed  John  of  England  and  only  restored  him  on  his  abject 
submission  (History,  §  86) ;  he  interfered  with  the  internal  affairs 
of  Portugal,  and  of  the  Spanish  states  of  Leon,  Castile,  and  Aragon, 
and  also  in  Bohemia,  Bulgaria,  Dalmatia,  and  Hungary.  In  these 
cases  Innocent  did  what  he  believed  to  be  best  for  the  interests 
of  the  Papacy,  not  for  the  interests  of  the  peoples  concerned,  or 
on  moral  or  religious  grounds.  Thus,  though  Philip  Augustus  was 
severely  handled  for  his  divorce  of  Ingeborg  and  his  immoral  life, 
not  a  word  relating  to  morals  was  said  to  John  of  England,  who 
was  notoriously  immoral.  Innocent  was  the  arbiter  of  Europe. 

75.  Results  of  Innocent’s  Policy.  —  The  logical  result  of  such 
a  policy  as  that  of  Innocent  is  the  destruction  of  national  life  and 
the  right  of  the  people  to  choose  their  own  rulers.  As  soon  as 
this  fact  was  recognized,  resistance,  monarchical  and  popular,  was 
inevitable.  Hence  the  steady  opposition  to  the  Pope  in  medieval 
times.  It  was  based  on  political,  not  on  religious,  grounds.  Even 
Otto  of  Brunswick  himself,  whom  Innocent  set  up  and  crowned, 
deserted  him  and  entered  the  anti-papal  ranks.^ 

1  Otto  was  the  son  of  Matilda,  daughter  of  Henry  II  of  England,  and  so  a  nephew 
of  Richard  I  and  John.  His  brother  William  was  the  Brunswick  ancestor  of  George 
I  of  England. 

2  Frederick  II  at  a  later  period,  when  one  of  his  supporters  was  raised  to  the 
papal  chair  as  Innocent  IV  (1243),  is  reported  to  have  said,  "  I  have  lost  a  friend; 
no  Pope  can  be  a  Ghibclline  "  (a  name  given  to  the  supporters  of  the  empire). 


588 


APPENDIX  I 


The  great  weapons  of  the  Papacy  —  excommunication  and  the 
interdict  —  at  first  had  enormous  influence  both  on  nations  and 
individuals  ;  but  later,  when  it  was  found  that  men  could  live 
notwithstanding  them,  their  use  often  injured  rather  than  aided 
the  Popes  who  employed  them.‘  These  papal  claims  were  a  great 
force  in  Europe  for  about  a  century,  for  not  till  the  death  of  Boni¬ 
face  VIII  (1294-1303)  did  they  suffer  a  permanent  decline. 

76.  Heresy  and  Heretics.  —  Owing  to  the  general  belief  that 
religion  was  inextricably  connected  with  the  state  and  social  order, 
heresy  was  regarded  with  feelings  very  different  from  those  of  the 
present  day.“  A  heretic  was  a  rebel  against  the  social  order  as 
well  as  the  church.  This  accounts  for  the  curious  fact  that  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  clergy  could  be  accused  of  all  sorts  of  lapses  from  vir¬ 
tue  and  morals  with  little  effect  upon  the  estimation  of  the  church 
in  general ;  but  to  accuse  a  man  of  heresy  was  like  accusing  him 
of  treason.  Indeed  heresy  was  by  many  regarded  as  treason  of 
the  worst  kind,  for  it  was  treason  both  to  God  and  the  state. 

Independent  minds  have  existed  in  all  ages,  and  the  medieval 
theory  of  the  church  was  sure  to  stir  up  dissent  and  opposition. 
Heretics  were  of  two  kinds  :  (i)  unbelievers  in  the  main  doctrines 
of  Christianity  ;  (2)  dissenters  from  some  of  the  practices  and  the 
doctrines  of  the  church. 

77.  The  Albigenses ;  Simon  de  Montfort  the  Elder;  The  In¬ 
quisition.  —  Representatives  of  the  first  class  were  the  Cathari 
(pure  ones),  better  known  as  the  Albigenses.  These  were  numer¬ 
ous  in  southern  France.  Innocent  was  strong  against  heresy  and 
strove  by  every  means  in  his  power  to  extirpate  it.  He  tried  send¬ 
ing  missionaries,  but  these  failing,  he  organized  (1203)  a  crusade 
against  them.  This,  led  by  Simon  de  Montfort  the  Elder  (History, 
§  III,  Note),  was  carried  out  relentlessly,  and  the  Albigenses  were 
extirpated.  In  connection  with  this  crusade  was  established  the 

1  This  was  true  even  with  Innocent.  Thus  the  interdict  was  so  keenly  felt  in 
France  that,  after  less  than  a  year,  Philip  Augustus  gave  way.  But  in  England 
the  almost  contemporary  interdict  in  John’s  reign  had  much  less  effect.  John  was 
able  to  brave  it  and  excommunication  for  four  years,  and  only  yielded  when 
threatened  with  a  French  invasion. 

2  This  fact  should  always  be  taken  into  consideration  in  forming  judgments  of 
the  men  of  the  Middle  Ages. 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE  589 


Inquisition  for  the  trial  of  the  heretics.  There  is  no  reason  to 
suppose  that  at  first  the  methods  of  this  court  differed  much  from 
the  ordinary  courts  of  the  day,  but  the  fact  that  the  court  was  not 
only  to  try  heretics,  but  to  search  for  heresy,  made  it  a  weapon 
easily  misused  and  liable  to  become  the  instrument  of  severe 
persecution. 

■78.  The  Waldenses. — The  Waldenses  are  examples  of  the  second 
class  of  so-called  heretics.  They  were  followers  of  Peter  Waldo, 
who  lived  in  the  twelfth  century.  They  were  dissenters  from  the 
church  chiefly  in  the  matter  of  practice.  They  taught  that  the 
Bible  was  sufficient  for  guidance,  that  the  simple  organization 
of  early  Apostolic  days  was  enough.  In  furtherance  of  their 
views  they  translated  portions  of  the  Bible  and  circulated  them. 
They  attacked  the  luxury  and  worldliness  in  the  church.  They 
consisted  chiefly  of  country  people  and  mountaineers  in  Piedmont. 
In  spite  of  severe  persecution  they  survived,  and  now  form  a 
branch  of  the  Protestant  church  in  Italy. 

79.  The  Emperor  Frederick  II,  12 10-1250.  —  Frederick  TI, 
left  by  his  mother  Constance  to  the  guardianship  of  Innocent  III 
(§  74),  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  in  European  history. 
Brought  up  in  Sicily  under  the  influence  of  Arabian,  Norman, 
and  Greek  culture,  he  was  highly  educated,  and  became  imbued 
with  such  a  feeling  of  intellectual  independence  that  he  was 
charged  with  being  a  heretic  and  an  unbeliever.  Though  an 
Italian  by  training,  he  had  dreams  of  restoring  the  empire,  and  when 
invited  in  his  eighteenth  year  by  some  discontented  German  nobles 
to  come  to  Germany,  he  went  thither  to  secure  the  imperial  crown 
(1212).  He  gained  the  support  of  the  Pope  by  acknowledging 
the  papal  suzerainty  over  Sicily  and  Naples,  and  secured  the  ad¬ 
herence  of  a  number  of  the  German  nobles.  He  also  made  an 
alliance  with  Philip  Augustus  of  France  (§  90). 

80.  Battle  of  Bouvines.  1214.  —  Otto  IV,  recognizing  that  his 
crown  was  in  great  danger,  sought  foreign  alliances.  Here  we  see, 
perhaps  for  the  first  time,  real  international  alliances,  Otto,  the 
Count  of  Flanders,  and  King  John  of  England  uniting  against 
Frederick,  Philip  Augustus,  and  the  Pope.  Two  of  the  armies 
met  at  Bouvines  in  Flanders  (1214),  resulting  in  the  complete 


590 


APPENDIX  I 


victory  of  the  French.  On  both  sides  the  foot  soldiers  from  the 
towns  played  an  important  part.  It  was  a  battle  of  nations  rather 
than  of  individual  monarchs.  The  results  were  far-reaching. 
The  cause  of  Frederick  was  greatly  strengthened,  and  Philip  was 
more  firmly  established  in  France.  On  the  other  side,  Otto  was 
ruined  and  John  lost  his  French  possessions  (History,  §  87). 

81.  Frederick’s  Last  Years.  1220-1250.  —  The  subsequent 
history  of  Frederick  is  full  of  romantic  incident.  He  was  crowned 
in  Rome  in  1220,  but,  like  Otto,  his  personal  interests  were  at 
variance  with  those  of  the  Papacy,  and  like  him  he  broke  with  the 
Pope  and  was  excommunicated.  He  was  continually  striving  to 
retain  both  his  German  and  Italian  possessions.  Though  ex¬ 
communicated  by  the  Pope,  he  made  a  crusade  and  in  1229 
actually  secured  Jerusalem  and  other  holy  places  by  treaty  with 
the  Turks.  He  established  a  strong  centralized  government  in 
Sicily,  but  in  Germany,  doubtless  recognizing  the  condition  of 
affairs,  he  made  many  concessions  to  the  nobles,  increasing  the 
tendency  to  the  formation  of  small  states.  He  died  in  1250,  and 
with  him  the  Medieval  Empire  really  ceased,  for  none  of  the  suc¬ 
ceeding  bearers  of  the  imperial  title  held  sway  outside  of  Germany.' 

82.  End  of  the  Hohenstaufens  (1254);  “Fist  Law.”  1254- 
1273.  —  The  dynasty  of  the  Hohenstaufens,  to  which  Frederick 
belonged,  came  to  an  end  with  Conrad  IV  (1254),  and  there  fol¬ 
lowed  a  period  which  the  Germans  called  Faustrecht  or  “  Fist 
Law,”  during  which  there  was  no  central  power,  and  Germany  was 
in  confusion,  each  prince,  baron,  archbishop,  and  city  claiming 
independence.  This  period  is  also  commonly  known  as  the  In¬ 
terregnum  (1254-1273).^ 

83.  Rudolf  of  Hapsburg.  1273. — At  length  Pope  Gregory  X, 
finding  that  his  revenues  were  decreasing,  sent  word  to  the  elec- 

1  Frederick  was  “  a  warrior  and  a  politician ;  a  profound  lawgiver  and  an  im¬ 
passioned  poet  a  naturalist,  a  scientist,  and  an  astrologer,  charged  with  being  an 
unbeliever  and  yet  persecuting  heretics.  His  third  wife  was  Isabella,  daughter  of 
John  of  England. 

2  Rifhard  of  Cornwall,  a  brother  of  Henry  III  of  England,  was  chosen  by  part 
of  the  electors  (1256).  He  came  to  Germany  and  was  crowned  at  Aachen  (1257). 
He  never  exercised  any  authority ;  neither  did  Alfonso  of  Castile,  who,  chosen  by 
the  other  electors,  never  came  to  Germany  at  all.  Richard  died  1271. 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROTE  591 


tors  that  if  they  did  not  choose  an  emperor,  he  would.  On  this 
the  electors  chose  Rudolf  of  Hapsburg  (1273).  Though  he  was 
supposed  to  be  a  weak  man,  he  managed  to  conquer  Austria 
(1278)  and  establish  his  rule,  and  the  Hapsburgs  have  sat  on 
the  Austrian  throne  ever  since.  Rudolf  gained  the  support  of  the 
Pope  by  resigning  any  claims  upon  Sicily  and  Italy.^ 

At  the  time  of  Rudolfs  accession  there  were,  it  is  said,  more 
than  four  hundred  territorial  divisions  in  Germany,  each  claiming 
sovereignty.'*  The  policy  of  the  succeeding  emperors  was  to  in¬ 
crease  their  personal  power  regardless  of  the  general  welfare. 
The  consequence  was  that  Germany  remained  divided  for  nearly 
five  centuries.® 

84.  Italy ;  Rise  of  Italian  Republics.  —  Italy,  freed  from  the 
real  or  attempted  rule  of  the  German  emperors,  was  the  scene  of 
local  quarrels,  resulting  in  the  rise  of  the  so-called  Italian  republics, 
Genoa,  Milan,  Pisa,  Florence,  Venice,  and  others.  The  Papacy 
controlled  the  center  of  the  peninsula,  while  Naples  was  under  the 
House  of  Anjou,  and  Sicily  under  that  of  Aragon,  a  condition  of  affairs 
in  essentials  lasting  till  the  latter  part  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

85.  Switzerland.  1291-1386.  —  One  result  of  the  reign  of 
“  Fist  Law  ”  was  the  rise  of  Switzerland.  Among  the  towns  which 
claimed  independence  of  all  rule  except  the  overlordship  of  the 
emperor  were  Uri,  Schwyz,  and  Unterwalden  on  Lake  Lucerne. 
Rudolf  of  Hapsburg,  before  he  was  elected  emperor,  had  vainly 
tried  to  bring  them  into  subjection,  but  after  his  election  matters 
of  greater  importance  engrossed  his  attention.  His  successors, 
however,  roused  by  the  increasing  power  and  influence  of  the 

1  The  electors  at  this  time  were  the  Archbishops  of  Mainz,  Treves,  and  Cologne, 
the  Duke  of  Saxony,  King  of  Bohemia,  Margrave  of  Brandenburg,  and  the  Elector 
Palatine  of  the  Rhine. 

2  This  great  number  was  partly  due  to  the  Teutonic  custom  of  dividing  lands, 
among  the  sons  instead  of  leaving  all  or  nearly  all  to  the  eldest  son  as  in  England 
and  France.  It  was  also  partly  due  to  the  policy  of  the  Hohenstaufens,  who,  in 
order  to  further  their  plans  in  Sicily  and  Italy,  gave  great  privileges  to  the  German 
nobles,  and  did  not  attempt  to  centralize  their  power  —  an  error  from  which  Ger¬ 
many  long  suffered. 

®  It  was  not  till  the  Austro-Prussian  War  of  1866  that  the  real  unification  of  Ger¬ 
many  began.  This  was  immensely  furthered  by  the  Franco-Prussian  War,  1870- 
1871.  The  temporary  unification  under  Napoleon  I  can  hardly  be  counted. 


592 


APPENDIX  I 


Swiss  cantons,  made  great  efforts  to  subdue  them.  Aided  by  the 
character  of  their  country  and  inspired  by  their  love  of  independ¬ 
ence,  the  Swiss  made  a  brave  resistance,  and  at  the  battle  of 
Morgarten  (1315)  defeated  the  Hapsburg  Leopold  of  Austria. 
Already,  in  1291,  three  cantons  had  made  a  league  for  mutual 
help  and  protection,  and  by  1353  five  other  cantons  had  joined 
them.  The  Swiss  were  again  called  upon  to  defend  their  liberties 
at  Sempach  (1386)  and  gained  another  great  victory.  This  led  to 
their  independence  and  in  time  to  modern  Switzerland.^ 

These  victories  of  the  Swiss  were  a  severe  blow  to  the  already 
declining  chivalry  and  feudalism,  for  they  proved  again  that 
trained  foot  soldiers  were  more  than  a  match  for  the  noble  knights. 

86.  Spain  ;  Portugal.  — The  Moors  in  Spain  reached  the  height  of 
their  power  in  the  eighth  century.  From  that  time  the  Christians 
gradually  increased  their  territory,  which  they  were  able  to  do 
chiefly  because  of  dissensions  and  divisions  among  the  Moors. 

Portugal  was  established  as  an  hereditary  kingdom  in  1139, 
while  still  earlier  the  kingdoms  of  Leon,  Castile,  and  Aragon  had 
come  into  existence.  Under  Ferdinand  I  (1214-1252),  who  in¬ 
herited  Leon  from  his  father  and  Castile  from  his  mother,  the 
Christian  rule  was  extended  all  over  Spain  except  the  small  king¬ 
dom  of  Grenada,  which  was  to  remain  Moorish  for  nearly  two  and 
a  half  centuries  (1492). 

87.  Alfonso  X  of  Castile.  1252-1284.  —  The  greatest  of  all 
Spaniards  of  this  period  was  Alfonso  X  of  Castile  (1252-1284), 
known  as  “  Alfonso  the  Wise.”  He  was  the  rival  of  Richard  of 
Cornwall  for  the  imperial  crown,  though  he  understood  the  situa¬ 
tion  too  well  to  take  any  active  steps  to  secure  the  honor.  One 
of  the  best  educated  men  of  his  day,  he  was  a  patron  of  famous 
learning,  and  a  lawgiver  like  his  contemporaries  Edward  I  of 
England,  Louis  IX  of  France,  and  Frederick  II  in  Sicily. 

88.  The  People  in  Spain.  —  The  people  obtained  recognition 
of  their  rights  earlier  in  Spain  than  elsewhere.  In  Aragon  the 

1  The  five  cantons  were  Luzern  (1320) ;  Zurich  (1351) ;  Glarusand  Zug  (1352)  ; 
Bern  (1353).  The  League  was  formed  (1291)  and  Morgarten  fought  (1315)  in  the 
canton  of  Schwyz,  and  from  that  canton  the  republic  takes  its  name.  The  confed¬ 
eration  was  not  formally  recognized  until  1648. 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE  593 


Cortes,  a  representative  body,  was  established  in  1133,  and  in 
Castile  in  1166.  Indeed  feudalism  never  prevailed  in  the  Spanish 
Peninsula  as  elsewhere  in  Europe.  The  Spanish  aristocracy  was 
military  rather  than  territorial.  This  condition  was  a  result  of  the 
constant  wars  against  the  Moors.  The  Cortes,  composed  as  a  rule 
of  nobles,  clergy,  and  representatives  from  the  towns,  had  very 
considerable  power  over  taxation,  legislation,  etc.  There  were  also 
other  safeguards  over  liberty,  making  Spain  in  the  thirteenth  cen¬ 
tury,  next  to  England,  the  freest  country  in  Europe.  In  the  later 
years  of  the  century,  owing  to  factions  and  jealousies,  a  period  of 
turbulence  began,  which  was  of  long  continuance.  Not  until 
Ferdinand  of  Aragon  and  Isabella  of  Castile,  heirs  of  their  respec¬ 
tive  kingdoms,  united  those  kingdoms  by  their  marriage  (1469) 
were  peace  and  unification  brought  about. 

89.  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  — The  policy  of  both  of  these 
monarchs  was  absolute  rule.  They  were  able  to  take  away  the 
liberties  of  their  subjects  because  there  was  no  sympathy  between 
the  people  and  the  nobles.  Their  patronage  of  Columbus  and  the 
expulsion  of  the  Moors  have  cast  a  glamour  over  their  history  which 
hides  the  fact  that  to  them  more  than  to  any  others  is  due  the 
destruction  of  the  liberties  of  the  Spanish  people,  and  the  ultimate 
fall  of  the  Spanish  Empire.  Charles  V  and  Philip  II  simply  carried 
out  the  policy  begun  by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella. 

90.  Medieval  France.  —  The  close  of  the  fourteenth  century, 
which  saw  Germany  with  slight  exceptions  cut  up  into  numerous 
petty  states,  found  France  a  large,  compact  state,  ruled  by  a 
strongly  centralized  government.  The  numerous  fiefs  of  the 
eleventh  century  had  been  consolidated.  The  process,  though 
slow  and  with  many  setbacks,  had  been  aided  by  many  things.  As 
a  rule  the  Capetian  monarchs  (descendants  of  Hugh  Capet,  the 
first  king  of  France,  987-996)  were  able  men;  moreover,  they 
had  the  singular  good  fortune  for  three  hundred  years  always  to 
have  sons  to  succeed,  and,  with  but  few  exceptions,  able  regents 
when  the  heir  was  under  age.  For  two  hundred  years  it  was  their 
custom  to  have  the  heir  crowned  during  the  lifetime  of  the  reigning 
monarch.  This  action  lessened  the  risk  of  a  disputed  succes¬ 
sion.  Again,  while  the  law  of  France  recognized  only  male  sue- 


594 


APPENDIX  I 


cessors  to  the  crown,  female  succession  was  common  in  the  fiefs. 
This  custom  afforded  many  opportunities  for  acquiring  possessions 
by  marriage  with  an  heiress.^ 

For  no  inconsiderable  part  of  the  period  the  royal  domain  was 
smaller  than  some  of  the  fiefs, ^  but  the  kings  were  wary  and  always 
on  the  watch  for  opportunities  to  increase  their  power  and  domain. 

The  rise  of  cities  and  the  increase  in  number  and  importance 
of  the  commercial  classes  also  aided  the  kings,  for  the  abolition  of 
petty  feudal  dues  and  private  warfare,  and  the  preservation  of 
peace  and  order,  all  of  which  are  essential  to  commercial  success, 
were  far  more  likely  to  be  obtained  under  a  strong  king  of  a  large 
territory.  It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  monarchy  was  patri¬ 
otic  or  specially  far-sighted  in  its  policies  —  far  from  it.  Probably 
most  that  was  done  was  due  to  selfish  motives,  but  it  often  hap¬ 
pened,  as  was  not  unfrequently  the  case  in  England,  that  the  selfish 
interests  of  the  kings  and  the  cause  of  progress  coincided. 

&1.  Philip  Augustus,  1 180-1223. — The  actual  change  in  France 
from  a  duchy  to  a  kingdom  was  the  work  of  Philip  Augustus 
(1180-1223),  one  of  the  most  unscrupulous  and  able  of  French 
monarchs.  As  has  been  seen,  Henry  II  of  England  had  through 
inheritance  and  marriage  (History,  §§  60,61)  far  greater  domains 
in  France  than  his  liege  lord,  the  king  of  France.  It  was  Philip’s 
chief  object  to  secure  these  territories  for  his  own.  The  history 
of  England  shows  what  incessant  warfare  Philip  kept  up  against  the 
English  during  his  long  reign ;  how  he  stirred  up  Henry’s  sons 
against  their  father,  now  supporting  one,  now  another.  After 
Henry’s  death  the  conflict  was  continued  on  one  pretext  or  another, 
until  by  the  battle  of  Bouvines  (1214)  the  English  received  such  a 
blow  that  at  the  death  of  Philip  (1223)  the  possessions  of  the 
Angevins  in  northern  France  had  been  permanently  joined  to  the 
French  crown  (History,  §  87).  Philip  also,  though  taking  no  part 

1  This  rule,  however  worked  both  ways.  Thus  Louis  VII  married  Eleanor  of 
Aquitaine,  and  through  her  acquired  large  possessions  ;  but  by  divorcing  her  he 
lost  them,  as  she  was  childless.  Her  subsequent  marriage  the  same  year  (1152) 
with  Henry,  soon  to  be  Henry  H  of  England,  transferred  them  to  the  English  crown 
(History,  §  6o),  resulting  in  great  loss  and  trouble  to  France. 

2  Thus  the  French  possessions  of  Henry  1 1  of  England  were  about  six  times 
larger  than  the  domains  of  Louis  VH,  his  feudal  liege  lord. 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE  595 


in  the  crusade  against  the  Albigenses  (§  77),  managed  so  to  profit 
by  it  that  Toulouse  ultimately  came  under  French  rule. 

92.  Louis  IX.  1226-1270.  —  The  protracted  reign  of  Louis  IX 
(1226-1270),  in  spite  of  a  long  minority,  was  one  which  saw  the 
monarchy  steadily  growing  in  power.  He  came  to  a  successful 
agreement  with  the  English  (1258)  ;  made  the  royal  coinage  a 
legal  tender  throughout  the  kingdom,  and  greatly  improved  the 
administration  of  justice  ;  made  the  king  a  final  court  of  appeal ; 
and  in  other  ways  increased  the  royal  power.^ 

93.  Philip  IV,  the  Fair ;  Charles  VII ;  Louis  XI.  —  Under 
Philip  the  Fair  (1285-1314)  France  became  the  leading  power  in 
Europe.  An  able  administrator,  he  carried  on  the  work  begun 
by  Philip  Augustus  and  Louis  IX,  developing  the  royal  power  in 
almost  every  direction.  To  Philip  also  is  due  the  establishment 
of  the  States  General  (1302).  There  had  been  assemblies  of 
the  two  estates  of  the  nation,  —  the  nobles  and  the  higher  clergy, 
—  but  to  these  Philip  added  representatives  from  the  cities. 
The  latter  were  called  the  Tiers  Etat  (Third  Estate).  The 
States  General,  however,  must  be  carefully  distinguished  from 
bodies  like  the  English  Parliament.  The  body  was  called  only 
when  the  king  wished  to  gain  approval  of  taxation  or  of  some 
measure  desired  by  him.  The  body  could  originate  nothing, 
passed  no  laws,  and  so  was  not  a  true  representative  assembly.^ 

Philip  opposed  or  supported  the  church  according  as  he  thought 
his  interests  would  be  served.  His  practical  control  of  the  Papacy 
(1305-13 14),  spoken  of  elsewhere  (§  95),  indicates  the  strength 
of  his  position  in  France  and  in  Europe  at  large.  Philip’s  perse¬ 
cution  and  destruction  of  the  Templars  closely  resembles  the  sup¬ 
pression  by  Henry  VHI  of  the  monasteries  in  England  with, 
perhaps,  even  less  to  justify  it.^ 

1  For  his  purity  of  life  and  character,  he  was  canonized  by  Boniface  VTII  (1297), 
and  is  known  as  St.  Louis. 

2  France  had  no  real  representative  assembly  in  the  modern  sense  until  the 
nineteenth  century. 

8  This  military  order,  by  its  devotion  to  the  Papacy,  its  close  connection  with  the 
nobles  from  whose  ranks  its  recruits  chiefly  came,  and  its  wealth,  was  a  continual 
menace  to  Philip’s  power  and  ambition.  He  charged  the  Templars  with  impiety 
and  immorality.  Many  were  arrested,  some  tortured  to  obtain  evidence,  some  were 
condemned  to  death,  and  the  property  of  the  order  was  seized  (1307). 


596 


APPENDIX  1 


The  close  of  the  Hundred  Years’  War  found  France  under 
Charles  VII.  When  he  was  hard  pushed  in  order  to  secure  his 
throne,  Charles  had  made  an  agreement  (1435)  with  Philip,  Duke 
of  Burgundy,  his  most  powerful  vassal,  which  practically  made 
Philip  an  independent  sovereign.  Charles  VII  died  in  1461,  leav¬ 
ing  Louis  XI  his  heir.  Philip  of  Burgundy  died  in  1467  and  was 
succeeded  by  his  son  Charles  the  Bold.  Charles’s  ambition  was  to 
have  his  domain  erected  into  a  kingdom,  while  Louis  wished  to 
extend  his  own  dominions. 

Charles  was  defeated  by  the  Swiss  and  killed  at  Nancy  (1477). 
His  daughter  and  heiress,  Mary  of  Burgundy,  soon  after  his  death, 
at  the  age  of  twenty,  married  Maximilian,  son  of  the  German 
Emperor  Frederick  HI.  Their  son,  Philip,  married  Juana,  eldest 
daughter  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  and  she  became  the  mother 
of  Charles  V.^  Louis  XI  gained  Burgundy  for  France,  and  later, 
by  the  death  of  Ren^  of  Anjou,  that  country  and  Maine  fell  to  the 
French  crown.  The  close  of  the  fifteenth  century  saw  France 
with  a  centralized  government  and  compact  territory. 

The  relations  of  England  with  France  and  Burgundy  were  close. 
As  a  rule  the  Lancastrians  favored  France,  while  the  Yorkists  favored 
Burgundy.  Edward  IV  of  England,  though  usually  on  the  side  of 
Burgundy,  did  not  hesitate  to  treat  with  France  if  he  thought  it 
would  be  to  his  own  advantage.^ 

94.  Boniface  VIII.  1294-1303.  —  The  Papacy  put  forth  its 
most  extensive  temporal  claims  under  Boniface  VHI  (1294-1303). 
The  character  of  these  claims  is  shown  by  two  celebrated  Bulls :  (i) 
that  known  as  Clericis  Laicos  (1296),  forbidding  all  laymen,  in¬ 
cluding  rulers,  to  lay  any  taxes  or  levies  on  the  clergy  without  papal 
consent,  and  prohibiting  the  clergy  from  paying  any  such  taxes  or 
levies;  (2)  the  Bull  Unavi  Sanctum  (1302),  in  which  the  spiritual 
power  is  claimed  to  be  superior  to  all  temporal  power.^ 

•*  It  was  through  this  marriage  that  the  Netherlands  and  some  adjacent  territory 
came  under  the  Austrian  and  Spanish  rule. 

2  Margaret,  sister  of  Edward  IV,  married  Charles,  Duke  of  Burgundy  (r468), 
being  hi^  second  wife ;  Elizabeth  Woodville,  Edward’s  wife,  was  niece  of  Count  of 
Pol,  Charles's  brother-in-law. 

3  “  For  the  truth  itself  declares  that  the  spiritual  power  must  establish  the  tem¬ 
poral  power  and  pass  judgment  on  it  if  it  is  not  good.”  Bull  Unam  Sanctum 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE 


597 


Edward  I  of  England  had  shrewdly  evaded  the  Bull  Clericis 
Laicos  (History,  §  134),  and  Philip  IV,  the  Fair,  of  France  did 
the  same.  The  Bull  Unam  Sancta?n  was  issued  primarily  against 
Philip.  These  claims  inevitably  provoked  hostility  from  temporal 
monarchs,  for  to  admit  them  would  destroy  the  authority  of  the 
monarch  over  his  own  subjects. 

Boniface  was  preparing  to  excommunicate  Philip,  when  he  was 
captured  by  Philip’s  agents,  at  Anagni,  Italy,  and  though  rescued 
by  his  own  adherents,  did  not  long  survive  the  outrage.  His  suc¬ 
cessor  lived  only  a  few  months. 

95.  The  Popes  at  Avignon.  1309.  —  For  nearly  a  year  the 
cardinals  were  unable  to  choose  a  Pope,  and  then  Philip’s  influence 
was  strong  enough  to  secure  the  election  of  a  Pope  who  would  be 
favorable  to  his  interests.  Accordingly  the  Archbishop  of  Bordeaux 
was  elected  (1305)  as  Clement  V.  The  papal  court  was  moved  to 
France  and  came  wholly  under  French  influence.  In  1309  Clement 
moved  his  residence  to  Avignon,  just  outside  of  France.  This 
place  continued  to  be  the  residence  of  the  Popes  for  about  seventy 
years,  and  as  French  influence  was  supreme,  the  period  (1305-1377) 
has  been  called  the  “  Babylonish  Captivity.”  ^  The  effect  was 
visibly  to  lessen  the  power  of  the  Papacy,  to  injure  its  prestige, 
and  seriously  to  impair  the  respect  in  which  it  had  been  held. 

96.  The  Great  Schism.  1378-1417.  —  Following  this  period 
came  what  is  known  as  the  “  Great  Schism.”  Gregory  XI,  who 
had  moved  to  Rome  (1377),  died,  and  his  successor.  Urban  VI 
(1378),  attempted  a  reformation  of  the  college  of  cardinals  and 
clergy.  The  cardinals  who  had  expected  Urban  to  return  to 
Avignon  were  angry,  went  out  of  Rome  and  elected  (1378)  a  new 
Pope  (Clement  VII),  who  took  up  his  residence  at  Avignon.  Thus 
there  were  the  two  Popes,  each  claiming  to  be  the  true  one.^  Each 
rival  Pope  was  recognized  according  to  the  inclinations  of  the  vari¬ 
ous  European  monarchs,  —  Italy  and  England  recognizing  Urban; 
France  and  Scotland,  Clement.  As  Urban  had  created  newcardi- 

1  So  called  from  the  seventy  years’  captivity  of  the  Jews  in  Babylonia.  The  date 
of  beginning  is  by  some  given  as  1305,  by  others  1309. 

Clement’s  supporters  claimed  that  Urban  had  been  forced  on  the  cardinals  by 
the  Roman  populace,  and  hence  his  choice  was  void. 


598 


APPENDIX  I 


nals,  there  were  two  colleges  of  cardinals.  It  followed  that  the 
Schism  extended  all  over  Christendom,  as  each  Pope  claimed  the 
power  to  appoint  prelates.  This  deplorable  division  lasted  about 
forty  years  (1378-141 7),  and  injured  the  church  more  than  any¬ 
thing  that  had  happened  to  it.  At  length  the  idea  of  a  general 
council,  like  those  held  in  the  early  ages  of  the  church,  gained 
prominence.  In  1409  a  council  called  by  members  of  both  col¬ 
leges  of  cardinals  met  at  Pisa.  This  council  deposed  both  Popes 
and  chose  a  new  one,  Alexander  V  (1409-14 10).  Neither  of  the 
deposed  Popes  would  yield ;  and  so  there  were  three  Popes  in¬ 
stead  of  two.  John  XXIII,  a  notoriously  unfit  man,  was  chosen 
as  Alexander’s  successor  (1410).  This  state  of  affairs  led  to  the 
calling  of  the  Council  of  Constance  (1414-1418),  one  of  the  most 
noted  gatherings  in  history.^ 

97.  Council  of  Constance.  1414-1418.  —  Owing  to  the  great 
difficulties  of  the  situation,  the  Council  did  not  achieve  as  much  as 
was  hoped,  or  might  have  been  expected.  It  did  heal  the  Schism 
by  deposing  the  three  Popes  ^  and  choosing  a  new  one,  Martin  V 
(141 7-1425).  Martin  was  a  strong  man  and  impatient  of  control. 
His  chief  object  was  to  regain  papal  power  and  church  authority, 
and  he  was  remarkably  successful.  Had  the  Council,  as  it  should 
have  done,  first  taken  active  measures  for  reform,  the  whole  course 
of  European  history  might  have  been  very  different. 

Of  the  three  great  questions  before  the  Council  —  healing  of 
the  Schism,  reformation  in  the  church,  and  the  suppression  of 
heresy  —  the  last  was  by  no  means  regarded  as  the  least  im¬ 
portant.  Toleration,  as  has  been  seen,  was  something  incompre¬ 
hensible  to  most  persons  in  that  age,  and  to  hold  opinions  differ¬ 
ing  from  those  commonly  accepted  was  believed  to  be  a  menace 
to  church  and  state  alike.  It  is  only  this  fact  which  can  explain 
or  palliate  actions  which  seem  to  men  of  our  day  treacherous  and 
cruel. 

1  There  were  present  the  Pisa  Pope,  and  John  XXIII;  twenty-five  cardinals, 
thirty-three  archbishops  and  bishops,  one  hundred  and  fifty  abbots,  the  German 
emperor,  one  hundred  dukes  and  earls,  and  many  of  lesser  rank.  It  was  the  last 
church  council  which  was  recognized  by  practically  all  Europe. 

John  XXIII  was  deposed,  Gregory  XII  submitted  and  was  deposed,  Benedict 
was  deposed,  but  refused  to  obey  and  retired  to  Spain. 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE 


599 


98.  John  Hus  (1373-1415).  —  The  doctrines  promulgated  by 
Wycliffe  and  his  followers  had  been  carried  to  Bohemia  by  stu¬ 
dents  and  others,  notably  by  Jerome  of  Prague,  and  though  hardly 
the  cause  of  the  rise  of  a  reform  party,  undoubtedly  stimulated 
that  movement.  Among  those  influenced  was  John  Hus,  a  man 
connected  with  the  University  at  Prague.  Hus  claimed  that  no 
church  official  need  be  obeyed  unless  he  were  an  exemplary  man. 
He  also  upheld  most  of  Wycliffe’s  teachings,  though  he  did  not  go 
to  the  extreme  of  that  reformer’s  views.  So  sure  was  Hus  that  he 
was  right  and  could  convince  the  Council,  that  he  willingly  appeared 
before  it  to  defend  his  position,  especially  as  the  Emperor  Sigis- 
mund  had  granted  him  a  safe-conduct.^  Hus,  however,  was 
arrested  and  imprisoned.  W'hen  the  Emperor  Sigismund  made  a 
weak  protest,  he  was  told  that  the  law  did  not  recognize  suspected 
heretics.  Later,  Sigismund  basely  deserted  Hus.  Hus  w'as 
brought  to  trial,  refused  to  retract,  and  was  condemned  as  a  here¬ 
tic.  He  was  handed  over  to  the  civil  authority,  and  was  forth¬ 
with  burned  at  the  stake  (July  6,  1415).  Lest  his  ashes  might 
become  an  object  of  veneration,  they  were  thrown  into  the  Rhine. 
Jerome  of  Prague,  who  had  followed  him  to  Constance,  was  like¬ 
wise  apprehended  and  burned.^ 

The  treatment  of  Hus  and  Jerome  greatly  excited  the  indig¬ 
nation  of  their  followers.  The  result  was  the  Hussite  War  in 
Bohemia  (1419- 1431),  a  struggle  which  for  cruelty  can  only  be 
compared  with  the  Thirty  Years’  War  (1618-1648).  Had  Bo¬ 
hemia  possessed  a  native  ruler,  and  had  the  reformers  been 
united,  the  end  would  probably  have  been  different ;  as  it  was, 
the  compromise  party  won,  and  a  reconciliation  was  made  with 
the  church  (1433). 

99.  Reform.  —  In  the  matter  of  reform  the  Council  accomplished 
nothing  of  importance.  This  was  due  not  only  to  Martin  V,  but 
also  to  changed  political  conditions.  “  It  was  impossible  to  make 
arrangements  for  the  whole  of  Christendom  when  the  church  in 

1  The  “  safe-conduct  ”  was  a  document  ordering  that  no  one  should  do  him  any 
harm,  and  allowing  him  to  leave  Constance  whenever  he  might  wish. 

2  One  of  the  acts  of  the  .Council  (1414)  was  to  pass  a  decree  that  Wycliffe’s  ashes 
should  be  disinterred  and  thrown  into  a  stream  (History,  §  177). 


6oo 


APPENDIX  I 


England,  in  France,  and  in  Germany  each  had  its  own  ideas  as  to 
what  was  best,  and  each  wished  to  maintain  its  own  rights  and 
independence.”  The  Council  closed  in  1418. 

100.  Council  of  Basel  (1431-1449);  The  Papacy.  —  Another 
Council  at  Basel  (1431-1449),  though  much  prolonged,  was  equally 
unsuccessful  in  settling  affairs.  From  this  time  the  papacy  lost 
much  political  influence  in  Europe,  but  in  spite  of  great  short¬ 
comings,  retained  much  of  spiritual  influence.  The  Popes  gave 
their  chief  attention  to  the  preservation  and  extension  of  their 
political  power  in  Italy,  and,  for  fifty  years  or  more,  were  rather 
temporal  than  spiritual  rulers. 

101.  The  “  Renaissance  Popes.”  —  Some  of  the  Popes,  from 
their  support  of  the  new  movement,  are  known  as  the  “  Renaissance 
Popes.”  Their  courts  were  large  and  extravagant,  they  delighted 
in  paintings,  statuary,  books,  architecture,  and  all  kinds  of  artistic 
work.  To  fulfil  these  expensive  desires,  and  legitimate  sources  of 
expenditure  also  vast  sums  of  money  were  required,  and  they  were 
drawn  from  other  parts  of  Europe  by  various  means.  A  strong 
feeling  existed  in  almost  all  countries  against  the  large  revenues 
demanded.  There  can  be  no  question  that  at  the  close  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  from  one  cause  or  another,  there  was  against 
the  papacy  a  strong  feeling  of  which  the  Protestant  Reformation 
was  a  natural  outcome. 

102.  The  Ottoman  Turks ;  Fall  of  the  Eastern  Empire.  1453. 
—  The  Seljuk  Turks  (§57)  continued  to  hold  a  large  part  of  west¬ 
ern  Asia  and  Asia  Minor,  but  about  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth 
century  the  Ottoman  *  Turks,  advancing  from  central  Asia,  reduced 
the  Seljuks  to  submission  and  continued  to  extend  their  dominion. 
They  first  crossed  into  Europe  in  1353  and  gradually  secured 
nearly  all  the  territory  of  the  Balkan  peninsula  and  of  the  Eastern 
Empire.  These  invaders  menaced  all  Europe  and  many  efforts 
were  made  to  drive  them  back.  A  great  army  gathered  to  meet 
them  met  with  a  crushing  defeat  at  Nicopolis  on  the  Danube 
(1396),  and  had  it  not  been  that  Bajazet,  the  Turkish  leader,  was 
attacked  in  Asia  Minor  by  Tamerlane  the  Tartar,  it  might  have 

1  So  called  from  Othman  or  Osman  (1288-1326).  From  the  latter  the  Turks  get 
their  name  Osmaulis.  Othman  was  the  first  leader  who  was  independent. 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE 


6oi 


gone  hard  with  Christian  Europe.  At  Angora,  in  central  Asia 
Minor,  Bajazet  was  himself  defeated  and  taken  prisoner  (1402). 
But  this  was  only  a  temporary  setback,  for  the  Turks  recovered 
their  position  and  besieged  Constantinople.  The  emperor  vainly 
appealed  for  aid  to  western  Europe.  After  a  heroic  defense  of 
about  two  months,  the  city  fell  (1453),  and  for  three  days  was 
given  up  to  pillage.  The  great  cathedral  of  St.  Sophia  was  turned 
into  a  Mohammedan  mosque,  and  ever  since  Constantinople  has 
been  in  Turkish  hands. 

103.  Results  of  the  Fall  of  the  Eastern  Empire.  —  Europe 
was  shocked  at  the  great  catastrophe,  which  she  might  by  united 
effort  have  prevented.  Still  some  good  resulted,  for  the  Greek 
scholars  escaping  from  Moslem  rule  took  with  them  their  learning, 
their  language  and  literature,  besides  manuscripts  of  Greek  authors, 
and  thus  gave  a  new  impetus  to  the  development  of  thought  and 
culture  already  under  way  in  the  West.^ 

The  conquest  of  Constantinople  made  the  Turks  less  of  a 
nomadic  race,  and  gave  them  possessions  in  Europe  which  they 
held  for  nearly  five  hundred  years,  to  the  great  detriment  of 
southeastern  Europe,  besides  being  for  a  large  part  of  that  period 
a  menace  to  Christian  civilization  and  development. 

104.  Turks  in  Europe.  1453-1481.  — The  Sultan  Mohammed  II 
(1451-1481),  an  able  man  and  shrewd  ruler,  was  the  real  founder 
of  the  Ottoman  Empire.  He  gave  his  Christian  subjects  a  district 
of  Constantinople  to  dwell  in,  and  allowed  them  to  preserve  their 
ecclesiastical  organization  under  a  Patriarch.  Though  he  levied 
a  special  tax  on  Christians,  from  a  purely  material  point  of  view 
they  were  not  very  much  worse  off  than  before  the  conquest. 
The  greatest  cause  of  suffering  was  the  tribute,  at  least  as  often  as 
every  five  years,  of  Christian  boys  who  were  seized  by  the  Turks 
to  be  educated  as  Moslems  and  trained  as  Turkish  soldiers.^ 

1  It  has  too  often  been  said  that  the  fall  of  Constantinople  introduced  Greek 
learning  to  the  West,  but  this  is  very  far  from  being  the  case;  Greek  learning  was 
already  in  Europe. 

2  These  men  were  called  Janizaries.  They  were  not  allowed  to  marry  and  in 
some  ways  resembled  the  military  religious  orders  of  the  Christians.  They  usually 
became  fanatical  Moslems  and  were  the  mainstay  of  the  Turkish  military.  In 
later  times  Turks  joined  the  Janizaries.  They  were  done  away  with  in  1826. 


602 


APPENDIX  I 


Mohammed  II  continued  his  conquests  until  at  his  death  (1481) 
the  empire  included  all  Asia  Minor  to  the  fiuphrates,  the  Balkan 
Peninsula  as  far  as  the  Danube,  and  also  Greece  and  most  of  the 
islands  of  the  ^gean  Sea,  and  controlled  the  Black  Sea.  Under 
some  of  his  successors  the  Turks  advanced  still  farther  into  Europe. 
Not  until  late  in  the  seventeenth  century  did  the  Ottoman  power 
begin  steadily  though  very  slowly  to  decline. 


CHAPTER  III 


HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE  —  1600-1648 

105.  Extent  of  Christendom.  1500.  —  The  change  from 
medieval  thought  and  action  to  modern  was  gradual  and  was  the 
result  of  many  influences,  some  of  the  principal  of  which  have 
already  been  mentioned.  A  brief  review  of  Christendom  at  the 
close  of  the  fifteenth  century  (1500)  is  instructive.  In  the  first 
place  the  geographical  extent  was  greatly  less  than  it  was  at  the 
close  of  the  seventh  century  (700).  Palestine,  Syria,  Egypt, 
northern  Africa,  the  Balkan  Peninsula,  and  Greece  were  all  lost  to 
Christendom.  The  Turks  were  still  triumphant,  and  all  Europe 
was  in  fear  of  a  further  advance. 

The  political  conditions  showed  a  tendency  toward  consolida¬ 
tion  ;  England,  France,  and  Spain,  after  a  long  period  of  unrest, 
domestic  wars,  and  turbulence,  had  become  strong  nations,  of  which 
England  was  the  freest.  The  growth  of  commerce,  trade,  manu¬ 
facturing,  and  wool  raising  in  England  testified  to  internal  quiet, 
and  the  foreign  alliances  of  Henry  VII  indicated  the  international 
position  of  the  kingdom. 

106.  France. — France  had  the  most  centralized  government, 
and  her  monarch  was  almost  absolute.  But  France  was  not  a 
compact  nation  in  the  sense  that  England  was.  The  English 
custom  of  treating  the  younger  sons  as  commoners  tended  to  do 
away  with,  or  at  least  very  much  to  modify,  feelings  of  caste,  and 
to  promote  the  growth  of  an  intelligent  middle  class  —  the  most 
valuable  asset  of  a  nation.  In  France  all  the  children  of  nobles 
were  noble,  and  this  created  “  a  caste,  numerous,  poor  in  many 
instances,  and  too  proud  to  belittle  themselves  by  entering  any  of 
the  professions  or  engaging  in  commerce.”  The  exemption  from 
taxation  which  they  enjoyed  in  earlier  times  on  account  of  personal 
feudal  service  was  continued  long  after  feudal  service  had  come 
to  an  end.  The  result  was  that  practically  all  taxation  was  borne 

603 


6o4 


APPENDIX  I 


by  the  middle  and  lower  classes  and  had  become  a  grievous  bur¬ 
den.  The  church  in  France  was  more  independent  of  Rome  than 
elsewhere,  and  its  administration  was  based  on  plans  suggested  by 
the  Council  of  Basel  (1438)  which  gave  the  king  great  power  in 
influencing  the  appointment  of  church  officials. 

107.  Spain.  —  Spain  had  grown  to  be  an  almost  absolute  mon¬ 
archy  under  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  Here,  also,  the  monarchs 
had  great  power  in  church  affairs,  and  notwithstanding  they  were 
called  their  “  Most  Catholic  Majesties,”  they  held  the  church  in 
Spain  almost  as  much  under  their  control  as  did  the  French  mon¬ 
arch.  The  Inquisition,  established  (1478)  at  their  request  by 
Pope  Sixtus  IV,  was  perhaps  used  as  often  for  strengthening  the 
civil  despotism  as  for  rooting  out  heresy,  the  avowed  reason  for 
its  establishment. 

108.  Germany.  —  Notwithstanding  the  great  number  of  states 
into  which  Germany  was  divided,^  there  was  a  popular  desire 
for  German  unity.  While  this  was  recognized  and  various 
attempts  were  made  to  further  it,  they  all  ended  in  practical  failure 
because  the  princes,  on  the  one  hand,  were  unwilling  to  give  up 
any  part  of  their  independence ;  and  the  emperor,  on  the  other, 
would  not  accept  any  plan  which  would  involve  control  of  the 
emperor  by  the  princes. 

The  emperors  were  nominally  elective,  but  since  1438  had  been 
chosen  from  the  house  of  Hapsburg,  and,  not  unnaturally,  regard¬ 
ing  their  family  possessions  as  the  most  important,  lost  no  oppor- 
tunitv  of  securing  and  enlarging  them.  Over  them  they  could  and 
did  rule  —  over  the  empire  their  power  was  only  nominal. 

There  was  an  Imperial  Diet  or  assembly  of  three  houses  :  one 
composed  of  the  electors,  except  the  king  of  Bohemia ;  one  of 
the  princes,  spiritual  and  lay  ;  and  one  of  the  imperial  cities.  But 
owing  to  the  rivalry  and  dissensions  between  these  three  and 
between  the  Diet  and  the  emperor  little  or  no  effective  legislation 
was  enacted,  and  what  was  enacted  could  not  be  enforced. 


^  As'has  been  said,  there  were  probably  four  hundred  in  all,  and  what  added  to 
the  difficulties  of  the  situation,  the  possessions,  even  of  a  petty  prince,  often  were 
not  contiguous,  and  the  ruler  was  compelled  to  cross  the  domains  of  some  other 
ruler  in  order  to  visit  all  his  own.  This  opened  the  w-ay  for  endless  quarrels. 


BRIEIF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE 


Neither  was  the  Diet  a  true  representative  body,  for  neither  the 
lesser  nobility  nor  the  people  were  represented  (the  few  deputies 
from  the  cities  hardly  made  an  exception).  The  system  of 
imperial  justice  was  hopelessly  ineffective. 

109.  Italy.  —  Italy  was  almost  as  badly  cut  up  into  petty  states 
as  was  Germany.  The  important  states  were  Milan,  Venice,  and 
Florence  in  the  north,  States  of  the  Church  in  the  center,  and 
Naples  in  the  south.  Sicily  and  the  island  of  Sardinia  were  in  the 
hands  of  the  king  of  Aragon.  The  jealousy  and  rivalry  of  the  five 
principal  states  were  destructive  of  any  unity,  while  the  petty 
states  only  increased  the  evil.  Moreover,  these  divisions  and 
rivalries  encouraged  invasions  from  outside. 

110.  The  Papacy.  —  The  “  Captivity  ”  of  the  Papacy  at  Avignon 
(1309-1377),  and  the  Great  Schism  (1378-1417),  had  seriously 
weakened  the  power  of  the  Popes  over  the  States  of  the  Church, 
and  there  was  every  prospect  of  loss  of  territory.  Loss  of  territory 
meant  loss  of  prestige,  and,  perhaps,  coming  under  the  dominion 
of  one  of  the  other  Italian  states.  The  result  was  a  series  of  Popes 
(1471-1503)  who  sought  constantly  to  regain  their  temporal 
power. 

Such  was  the  political  condition  of  Europe  at  the  close  of  the 
fifteenth  century.  But  important  movements  had  been  in  progress, 
most  of  which  have  been  already  mentioned  or  referred  to  in  the 
history  of  England  and  in  previous  sections. 

111.  Inventions. — Two  inventions  introduced  into  Europe 
during  the  crusades,  and  one  in  the  fifteenth  century,  had  an 
enormous  influence,  and  without  them  the  Modern  Age  would  have 
been  delayed  we  know  not  how  long.  These  were  gunpowder, 
the  mariner’s  compass,  and  the  printing  press.  The  origin  and 
date  of  the  first  two  are  uncertain  ;  the  printing  press,  or  printing 
with  movable  types,  is  attributed  both  to  Lourens  Janszoon  Coster 
of  Haarlem,  Holland,  and  Johann  Guttenberg  of  Mainz,  Germany, 
though  to  Guttenberg  seems  to  belong  the  honor  of  making  the  in¬ 
vention  a  practical  one.  The  so-called  Mazarin  Bible,  printed  by 
Guttenberg  about  1456,  remains  one  of  the  finest  specimens  of 
typography.  The  first  of  these  inventions,  gunpowder,  rendered 
armor  and  fortified  castles  of  little  use,  and  made  a  knight,  as  a 


6o6 


APPENDIX  I 


fighter,  no  better  than  a  common  soldier,  thus  dealing  a  fatal  blow 
at  the  essentials  of  feudalism ;  the  second,  the  mariner’s  compass, 
gave  the  explorer  courage  to  strike  out  into  the  open  sea  on  voyages 
of  discovery ;  and  the  third,  printing,  was  the  means  of  diffusing 
knowledge  quickly  and  at  slight  expense,  to  which  the  earlier 
invention  of  paper  made  from  rags,  a  substitute  for  the  expensive 
parchment  or  vellum,  greatly  contributed.* 

112.  Discovery.  —  The  fifteenth  century  was  an  age  of  discovery. 
The  trade  with  the  East,  during  and  after  the  crusades,  had  been 
monopolized  by  Italian  cities.  The  nations  farther  west,  particu¬ 
larly  Spain  and  Portugal,  wished  to  have  a  share  in  this  profitable 
business,*  and  sought  for  other  routes.  Moreover,  the  conquest  of 
Constantinople  by  the  Turks  threatened  all  Eastern  trade. 

The  Portuguese  were  early  in  the  search.  This  was  due  to  the 
influence  of  a  Portuguese,  Prince  Henry  the  Navigator  (1394- 
1460).  Though  he  does  not  seem  to  have  undertaken  any  long 
voyage  himself,  he  took  an  active  interest  in  explorations,  begin¬ 
ning  when  he  was  about  thirty  and  continuing  his  efforts  for  thirty 
years.  Before  his  death  (1460)  the  Portuguese  had  reached  Cape 
de  Verde,  and  in  i486,  Bartholomew  Diaz  rounded  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,*  and  in  1498  Vasco  da  Gama  not  only  rounded  the 
Cape,  but  crossed  the  Indian  Ocean  to  India.  Before  this  Colum¬ 
bus,  in  the  service  of  Spain,  had  discovered  America  (1492),  and 
fired  the  souls  of  the  sailors  of  all  Europe  to  discover  new  lands, 
forever  abolishing  the  fear  of  those  dangers  which  had  filled  the 
minds  of  earlier  mariners.  The  discovery  of  the  all-sea  route 
to  India  not  only  made  the  Portuguese  rich,  but  in  time  gave 
them  possessions  in  the  far  East.  Moreover,  the  trade  of  the 
Italian  cities  was  most  seriously  injured,  and  they  lost  the  suprem¬ 
acy  they  formerly  possessed.  The  subsequent  expeditions  of 
Cortez  in  Mexico  (1519)  and  Pizarro  in  Peru  (1524)  and  others 
brought  vast  wealth  to  Spain.  The  circumnavigation  of  the  globe 

1  It  is  said  that  forty-five  copyists  working  for  nearly  two  years  produced  only 
about  two  hundred  volumes  of  manuscripts  for  Cosmo  de’  Medici. 

2  Tha  articles  chiefly  desired  were  spices,  which  were  much  more  used  than 
now,  silks,  ivory,  gold,  pearls,  camphor,  dyewoods,  etc. 

3  Diaz  named  it  the  Cape  of  Storms  and  Torments,  but  the  king  changed  the 
name  to  that  by  which  it  has  ever  since  been  called. 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE  607 


by  Magellan’s  ship  (1519-1522)  proved  the  rotundity  of  the  earth 
without  question.  The  result  of  these  voyages  of  discovery  was 
to  broaden  the  minds  of  men,  and  to  make  them  far  more  ready  to 
receive  and  adopt  new  views  in  every  field  of  human  endeavor.* 

113.  Intellectual  Activity. — The  fifteenth  century  was  an  age 
of  great  widening  of  all  kinds  of  intellectual  activity.  This,  be¬ 
ginning  in  Italy,  extended  through  Europe.  The  Italian  Petrarch 
(1304-1374)  was  the  great  pioneer  whose  efforts  led  to  the  revival 
of  the  study  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  classics,  and  to  a  revolution 
in  the  methods  of  education.  The  old  system  with  its  emphasis 
upon  dialectic  and  logic  was  overturned,  and  the  stress  was  laid 
upon  the  literary  side  of  education  and  that  which  pertained  to 
real  life.  The  men  who  advocated  this  system  have  been  called 
“  Humanists.”  The  invention  of  the  printing  press  allowed  their 
views  and  works  to  become  widespread,  while  the  clearness  and 
freshness  of  their  teaching  had  greater  and  greater  influence. 
The  study  of  Greek  and  Roman  sculpture  and  architecture  and 
the  influence  of  humanism  led  to  that  revival  in  painting  and 
sculpture  the  like  of  which  has  never  been  seen  since. 

The  geographical  discoveries,  the  humanistic  influence,  the  rise 
of  a  wealthy  and  independent  burgher  class,  had  their  effect  upon 
the  students  of  the  realm  of  nature,  which  was  studied  in  what  is 
now  called  a  scientific  spirit  —  that  is,  nature  herself  was  investi¬ 
gated,  and  observations  made  the  basis  of  reasoning.  Thus,  not 
only  was  the  earth  discovered  to  be  round,  but  Copernicus  (1473- 
1543)  demonstrated  that  the  sun,  not  the  earth,  as  had  been  held, 
is  the  center  of  our  system  of  planets.^ 

114.  Religious  Unrest.  —  It  was  inevitable  that  along  with  the 
changes  and  revolution  in  other  fields  that  the  realm  of  religious 
thought  and  practice  should  be'  included.  Among  the  first  fruits 
in  this  field  was  Erasmus’s  edition  of  the  Greek  New  Testament 
(1516),  with  a  new  Latin  translation,  thus  bringing  the  book 
freshly  before  the  men  in  its  original  tongue,  and  with  a  fresh 

1  England,  as  has  been  seen  (History,  (  224),  sent  out  John  Cabot  (1497)  but 
did  nothing  more  for  a  century.  France  did  nothing  till  1589. 

2  He  did  not  dare  to  publish  this  till  near  his  death.  His  discovery  had  no  in¬ 
fluence  on  his  own  age,  but  is  notable  as  an  e.xample  of  tlie  intellectual  workings 
of  tlic  times. 


6o8 


APPENDIX  I 


translation  into  the  literary  language  of  the  day.^  This  work  passed 
through  several  editions  and  was  widely  read,  exercising  a  great 
influence  in  stimulating  men  to  examine  the  claims  of  the  church. 

But  there  was  already  existing  a  strong  hostility  to  the  church 
which  had  long  been  growing  in  strength.  Among  the  causes  of 
this  was  the  heavy  ecclesiastical  taxation  of  various  kinds.  Very 
many  persons  believed  that  the  funds  so  raised  were  used  for  the 
personal  advancement  and  pleasure  of  officials  at  Rome  rather  than 
for  the  benefit  of  the  church  ;  another  was  the  manners  and  prac¬ 
tices  of  many  of  the  monks  and  clergy.  The  need  of  reform  was 
urgent ;  the  only  question  was  should  it  be  from  within  or  without, 
by  reformation  or  revolution.  Still  another  cause  was  that  which 
has  come  down  from  earlier  times  —  the  clashing,  especially  in  the 
matter  of  revenue,  between  the  temporal  and  the  ecclesiastical 
powers.  To  this  the  rise  of  strong  national  feeling  contributed, 
while  the  growth  of  personal  independence  so  manifest  in  the 
towns  and  commercial  centers  added  force.  Indeed  it  may  be 
doubted  whether  the  political,  social,  and  economic  reasons  did  not 
contribute  more  toward  a  revolution  than  the  strictly  religious.^ 

115.  The  Protestant  Revolution  and  Reformation.  —  The 
social,  political,  and  religious  unrest  and  some  of  the  causes  which 
might  bring  on  a  revolution  have  been  mentioned.  It  was  natural 
that  the  beginnings  of  revolt  against  existing  conditions  should 
come  in  Germany,  for  in  that  country  society  was  less  organized, 
there  was  no  strong  central  government,  political  power  was  more 
widely  distributed,  and  the  population,  as  a  whole,  was  worse  off 
than  elsewhere.  The  first  signs  were  the  risings  of  the  downtrod¬ 
den  peasants  in  the  lands  bordering  upon  Switzerland,  the  freedom 
of  whose  inhabitants  was  a  spur  to  action.  These  risings  were 
put  down  with  suffering  and  bloodshed. 


1  Hitherto  the  only  accessible  edition  was  that  of  the  Vulgate  —  an  early  Latin 
translation. 

2  When  it  is  remembered  that  marriage  was  celebrated  e.xclusi\'ely  by  the  church, 
that  clerics  took  charge  of  the  dying,  that  they  alone  gave  Christian  burial,  that  wills 
had  to  he  proved  in  church  courts,  that  clerics  took  charge  of  the  goods  of  the  dead 
and  distributed  them,  that  they  regulated  many  other  matters  of  personal  interest, 
and  that  they  tried  alleged  heretics  and  fi.xed  their  punishment,  some  idea  of  the 
power  of  the  church  may  be  gained. 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE  609 

116.  Indulgences.- — The  next  movement,  though  connected 
with  the  church,  was  closely  associated  with  economic  conditions. 
The  Roman  court  was  in  serious  need  of  funds  and  large  sums  of 
money  for  its  benefit  were  collected  in  all  countries.  Leo  X, 
when  chosen  to  the  Papal  chair,  finding  the  treasury  almost  empty, 
determined  to  raise  funds  by  disposing  of  indulgences  upon  a 
large  scale.^ 

117.  Tetzel’s  Mission  (1517);  Martin  Luther;  the  Ninety-five 
Theses.  1517.- —  The  chief  agent  appointed  by  Leo  for  disposing  of 
indulgences  in  Germany  was  a  Dominican  monk,  John  Tetzel,  an 
able  man,  and  an  eloquent  speaker,  but  devoid  of  tact.  Many 
people,  and  especially  the  rulers,  purely  on  economic  grounds,  were 
opposed  to  this  method  of  raising  funds,  because  it  took  so  much 
money  out  of  their  dominions,  making  it  increasingly  difficult  to 
collect  the  needful  civil  taxes.  Others  continuing  the  earlier 
objections  to  the  use  of  indulgences,  notably  that  of  the  Council 
of  Constance,  protested  on  religious  grounds.  Among  these  was 
the  monk  Martin  Luther  (1483-1546),  a  professor  in  the  University 
of  Wittenberg.  When  Tetzel  came  to  the  neighborhood  of  Witten¬ 
berg,  Luther,  on  All  Saints’  Day  (November  i),  1517,  after  the 
fashion  in  those  days,  tacked  upon  the  Church  door  ninety-five 
theses  or  propositions  attacking  the  whole  system  of  indulgences, 
and  offering  to  defend  these  propositions  against  all  comers. 
Luther’s  theses  were  written  in  Latin,  but  were  immediately  trans¬ 
lated  into  German,  printed,  and  scattered  over  all  Germany, 
creating  such  an  impression  that  the  disposing  of  indulgences  in 
that  country  almost  ceased. 

118.  Frederick  the  Wise  and  Luther. — ^  Luther’s  action  would 
not  have  meant  so  much  had  he  not  been  supported  by  his  ruler, 
the  Elector  of  Saxony,  known  as  Frederick  the  Wise,  who  had  al¬ 
ready  forbidden  Tetzel  to  come  into  his  territory.  Luther,  more¬ 
over,  was  the  most  celebrated  professor  at  Wittenberg  and  its  great¬ 
est  ornament.  Frederick  was  the  most  respected  ruler  in  Germany  ; 
he  was  one  of  the  seven  electors,  and  his  influence  was  great. 

119.  The  Pope  and  Luther.  —  The  authorities  at  Rome  did  not 
for  some  time  appreciate  the  gravity  of  the  situation.  Even 

'These  were  in  part  to  help  in  erecting  the  present  church  of  St.  Peter’s  at  Rome. 


6io 


APPENDIX  I 


Luther  himself  did  not  for  some  time  perceive  where  his  course 
was  leading  him.  Luther  held  a  public  disputation  (June,  1519) 
with  John  Eck,  the  ablest  German  defender  of  the  papacy,  the 
chief  result  of  which  was  to  strengthen  Luther  in  the  position  he 
had  taken,  and  to  show  him  that  he  was  no  longer  in  harmony 
with  the  church.  He  soon  published  two  stirring  tracts  on  the 
religious  and  social  conditions  in  Germany.  In  1520  the  Pope, 
finding  all  efforts  useless,  issued  a  bull  condemning  Luther’s  theses 
and  books,  and  excommunicating  him  if  he  did  not  recant  in  sixty 
days.  This  bull  Luther  publicly  burnt  outside  the  walls  of 
Wittenberg,  December  10,  1520.  This  was  open  defiance.  On 
January  3,  1521,  another  bull  excommunicated  him. 

120.  Election  of  an  Emperor;  Charles  V.  1519.  —  Meantime 
the  Emperor  Maximilian  had  died  (1519).  The  three  candidates 
for  the  imperial  crown  were  Charles  of  Spain,  grandson  of  Maxi¬ 
milian,  and  also  grandson  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  of  Spain; 
Francis  I  of  France  ;  and  Henry  VHI  of  England.  The  last  two 
had  small  chance,  but  though  Charles  was  a  Hapsburg,  the  electors 
had  serious  objections  to  him  on  account  of  his  great  dominions, 
and  offered  the  crown  to  Frederick  of  Saxony,  who  declined  the 
honor.  This  action  practically  elected  Charles,  who  was  chosen. 
He  “united  dominions  vaster  than  any  Europe  had  seen  since  the 
days  of  his  great  namesake  (Charlemagne).  Spain  and  Naples, 
Flanders,  and  other  parts  of  the  Burgundian  lands,  as  well  as  large 
regions  in  eastern  Germany,  obeyed  Charles ;  he  drew  vast  rev¬ 
enues  from  a  new  empire  beyond  the  Atlantic ;  ”  he  thus  became 
the  greatest  monarch  in  Europe. 

121.  Diet  of  Worms.  1521.  —  The  first  Diet  of  Charles  V  met 
at  Worms,  Germany,  in  January,  1521.  Pope  Leo  appealed  to 
the  emperor,  asking  him  to  send  Luther  to  Rome  for  trial,  but 
Charles  was  persuaded  to  let  Luther  be  heard  in  Germany,  and 
summoned  him  to  Worms,  promising  him  a  safe-conduct.  Luther 
came,  but  refused  to  recant  unless  what  he  had  said  and  done  was 
shown  to  be  contrary  to  Scripture.  He  was  permitted  to  depart, 
but  for  the  rest  of  his  life  he  was  under  the  ban  of  the  empire, 
that  is,  legally,  he  was  an  outlaw.  To  insure  Luther’s  safety  he 
was  seized  on  his  return  journey  by  his  friends  and  taken  to  the 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE  6  I  I 


Castle  of  VVartburg,  where  he  remained  about  a  year,  occupying 
his  time  in  translating  the  Bible  from  the  original  languages  into 
German.*  The  people  paid  little  attention  to  the  edict,  and  Luther 
gained  in  popularity  rather  than  lost. 

122.  Peasants’ Rising.  1524-1525.  —  While  Luther  was  in  the 
Wartburg  the  radical  and  wilder  spirits  came  to  the  front  and  in 
time  brought  about  the  Peasants’  Rising  (1524-1525).  The  lot  of 
the  German  peasants  was  a  hard  one ;  they  were  practically  serfs. 
It  is  little  to  be  wondered  at  that,  hopeless  of  betterment  and  in¬ 
cited  by  wild  leaders,  they  should  rise  in  rebellion  against  all  au¬ 
thority,  secular  or  clerical.  Terrible  deeds  of  violence  were 
committed,  and  not  until  about  one  hundred  thousand  lives  had 
been  sacrificed  was  the  rebellion  put  down.^ 

123.  Francis  I  and* Charles  V  ■  Henry  VIII.  —  The  whole  course 
of  events  during  the  following  years  was  influenced  by  the  personal 
ambition  of  the  great  rulers.  Francis  I  of  France  had  conquered 
Milan,  which  gave  him  an  important  point  of  advantage  for  any 
designs  he  had  upon  Italy,  where  he  claimed  Naples.  Charles 
claimed  that  Milan  belonged  to  the  empire  and  resolved  to  expel 
Francis.  War  began  between  the  two,  and  the  imperial  troops 
entered  Milan  (November,  1521).  Pope  Leo  X  suddenly  died  ; 
and  instead  of  Wolsey,  as  he  himself  and  Henry  VIII  hoped, 
the  emperor’s  old  tutor  was  chosen  Pope  as  Adrian  VP  (1522). 
Adrian  was  a  man  of  irreproachable  character,  and  desirous  of  putting 
an  end  to  abuses,  but  he  was  not  able  to  cope  with  the  great  diffi¬ 
culties  surrounding  him.  Perhaps  for  him  it  was  just  as  well  that 
he  lived  only  a  few  months.  Again  Henry  and  Wolsey  were  disap- 

1  This  is  universally  acknowledged  as  one  of  the  best  translations.  It  is  in  racy, 
simple,  forcible  words,  and  has  been  the  foundation  of  modern  German.  Before 
its  appearance  the  German  language  was  made  up  of  many  dialects. 

2  It  might  have  been  expected  that  Luther,  himself  a  peasant's  son,  would  have 
actively  sympathized  with  the  peasants,  but  he  did  not.  He  clearly  saw  the  hope¬ 
lessness  of  the  struggle,  and  the  danger  of  mixing  up  the  religious  question  with  the 
e.xtreme  demands  of  the  peasants.  He  recommended  arbitration,  which  was  re¬ 
fused,  and,  later,  urged  severe  measures  against  the  peasants.  There  can  be  little 
doubt  that  his  judgment  was  good,  but  one  must  regret  the  severity  of  his  lan¬ 
guage,  and  wish  that  he  had  shown  more  sympathy  with  the  downtrodden.  The 
real  authors  of  the  troubles  were  those  who  had  oppressed  the  peasants. 

**  He  kept  his  own  name,  which  was  unusual. 


APPENDIX  I 


612 

pointed,  for  Giulio  de’  Medici  was  chosen,  taking  the  name  of 
Clement  VI 1.  Francis  I  was  defeated  at  Pavia  (1525),  and  taken 
prisoner  and  sent  to  Madrid.  In  1526  Francis  concluded  a  treaty 
with  Charles  and  was  released.  The  Pope,  who  had  made  friends 
with  Francis,  absolved  him  from  his  obligations,  and  an  alliance 
between  Francis  and  the  Pope  followed. 

124.  Diet  of  Spires  (1526);  Charles  V  Crowned.  1530. — 
Meanwhile  the  Diet  of  Spires  was  sitting.  Charles  was  too  busy  to 
take  active  measures  against  the  supporters  of  Luther,  neither  did 
he  care  to  help  the  Pope,  who  had  allied  himself  with  Francis,  so  the 
Diet  unanimously  passed  a  decree  (1526)  that  “  Each  prince  should, 
as  regards  the  Edict  of  Worms,  so  live,  rule,  and  bear  himself  as 
he  thought  he  could  answer  it  to  God  and  the  emperor.”  This 
left  each  ruler  to  do  as  he  thought  best,  and  was  really  the  begin¬ 
ning  of  states  independent  so  far  as  religion  was  concerned,  and 
marks  the  division  of  Germany  into  Catholic  and  Protestant. 
Peace  was  made  between  Francis  and  Charles  in  1529,  and  in 
1530  Charles  was  crowned  emperor  by  the  Pope,  at  Bologna,  the 
last  emperor  so  crowned. 

125.  Second  Diet  of  Spires  (1529).  “Protestants.”  Augsburg 
Confession.  1530.  —  Meantime  the  Diet  of  the  Empire  met  again 
at  Spires  in  1529,  and  passed  a  decree  practically  reenacting  the 
Edict  of  Worms,  and  forbidding  all  further  reform  until  a  regular 
council  was  summoned.  Against  this  the  Lutheran  princes  and 
delegates  made  a  protest,  and  were  therefore  called  “  Protestants.” 

The  next  year  (1530)  the  Diet  met  at  Augsburg,  and  Charles 
himself,  after  nearly  ten  years’  absence  from  Germany,  was  present. 
To  this  Diet  the  Lutherans  presented  a  statement  of  their  belief, 
drawn  up  by  Melanchthon,  known  as  the  Augsburg  Confession. 
It  was  studiously  moderate  in  tone  and  statement,  but  Charles  was 
unwilling  to  agree  to  anything  except  absolute  submission.  In 
order  to  protect  themselves  the  Protestants  formed  the  “  League  of 
ichmalkalden.”  ^  This  was  the  actual  beginning  of  the  division 
of  Germany  into  two  hostile  camps.  The  result  of  the  action  of 
Charlek  was  ultimately  the  Thirty  Years’  War  (1618-1648). 

1  So  named  from  a  small  town  in  southern  Saxony  where  the  leaders  met  for 
consultation. 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE  613 

126.  State  of  Germany.  1530. — There  were  three  courses 
other  than  force  open  to  Charles,  (i)  compromise,  (2)  letting  the 
Protestants  alone,  (3)  holding  a  general  Council  like  that  of  Con¬ 
stance.  He  inclined  to  the  last,  but  the  Pope,  for  some  reason  or 
other,  put  off  action.  Compromise  was  attempted,  but  was  found 
to  be  impossible.  The  Schmalkalden  League  was  too  strong  to 
oppose  at  present,  so  matters  were  left  and  Protestantism  made 
rapid  growth.  Meantime  an  attack  on  Europe  by  the  Turks  di¬ 
verted  Charles’s  attention.  Luther’s  great  influence  was  thrown 
against  any  appeal  to  arms,  for  he  had  a  horror  of  war  and  a  high 
regard  for  civil  order.  Luther  died  in  1546. 

127.  CharlesmakesWar  on  Protestants  (1546) ;  Peace  of  Augs¬ 
burg.  1555. — ^  Charles  brought  in  Spanish  troops  and  proceeded 
to  break  up  the  Schmalkalden  League  by  force.  This  action  and 
others  roused  the  Cermans,  and  the  war  continued  until  1552. 
In  1555  the  Peace  of  Augsburg  was  concluded.  The  treaty  con¬ 
tained  the  famous  words,  cujus  regio,  ejtis  religio}  This  meant 
that  a  prince  might  choose  his  religion  and  that  all  his  subjects 
must  profess  the  same  on  pain  of  banishment.  This  was  neither 
religious  liberty  nor  toleration,  but  it  did  recognize  Lutheranism 
as  a  legal  religion  in  the  empire,  an  important  victory  for  the 
Protestants  as  far  as  it  went,  for  after  this  to  excommunicate  a 
man  for  being  a  Lutheran  would  be  to  attack  the  empire.^  It 
was  faulty  in  that  it  was  made  wholly  in  the  interests  of  the  rulers ; 
the  people  were  left  out  of  consideration.  Neither  was  any  pro¬ 
vision  made  for  any  future  change  in  conditions.  Other  matters 
were  disposed  of  ambiguously,  opening  the  way  for  future  trouble. 

128.  Abdication  of  Charles  V  (1555)  ;  Philip  II.  —  Disappointed 
at  the  failure  of  his  plans,  broken  in  health,  perhaps  for  other 
reasons  also,  Charles  V  abdicated  in  1555,  and  retired  to  a  mon¬ 
astery  in  Spain.  He  did  not,  however,  become  a  monk  or  sever 
himself  wholly  from  the  world.  He  divided  his  vast  dominions 
between  his  son,  Philip  H  of  Spain,  and  his  brother  Ferdinand. 
To  the  latter  he  gave  the  German  possessions  of  the  Hapsburgs ; 
to  his  son  he  gave  Spain,  its  American  colonies,  Milan,  the  king- 

'  Literally,  "whose  the  region,  his  the  religion." 

2  It  did  not  recognize  the  Swiss  Reformers  (Zwinglians),  or  the  Calvinists. 


6i4 


APPENDIX  I 


dom  of  the  Two  Sicilies,  and  the  Netherlands.  Charles  died  in 
1558- 

129.  Protestantism  in  France;  “  St.  Bartholomew.”  1572. — 
Meantime  France,  under  Francis  I,  was  at  first  tolerant  to  the 
new  religious  ideas,  which  spread  rapidly  —  the  French  Protes¬ 
tants  being  called  Huguenots.'  But  it  was  the  theology  of  John 
Calvin  of  Geneva  which  attracted  the  French.  For  political  rea¬ 
sons  Francis  allied  himself  with  the  Pope,  and  part  of  the  agreement 
was  the  suppression  of  heresy.  Then  came  the  persecution  of 
the  Waldenses  and  others.  His  successor,  Henry  H,  continued 
the  persecutions,  but  notwithstanding  this  the  adherents  of  the 
new  faith  increased,  particularly  in  the  south.  Francis  H  (1559- 
1560),  the  weak  son  of  Henry  II,  and  husband  of  Mary  Stuart, 
Queen  of  Scots,  died  within  a  year  of  his  accession.  He  was  suc¬ 
ceeded  by  his  brother  Charles  IX,  a  boy  of  ten  years,  whose 
mother,  Catherine  de’  Medici,  was  the  real  ruler.  Her  policy  was 
to  set  one  party  against  the  other,  and  therefore  she  tolerated  the 
Huguenots.  The  Catholic  party,  led  by  the  family  of  the  Guises, 
resented  this,  and  before  long  civil  war  broke  out.  In  this  Philip  H 
aided  the  Guises,  and  Elizabeth  of  England  the  Huguenots.  For 
over  thirty  years  there  was  almost  continual  war  carried  on  quite 
as  much  from  political  rivalry  as  from  religious  conviction.  Dur¬ 
ing  this  period  occurred  at  Paris  the  “  massacre  of  Huguenots,  on 
St.  Bartholomew’s  Day”  (August  24,  1572).  In  other  places  simi¬ 
lar  scenes  were  enacted.  Charles  IX  was  succeeded  by  his  brother 
Henry  HI  (1574-1589),  whose  reign  was  a  period  of  turmoil  and 
political  intrigues. 

130.  Henry  of  Navarre.  1589-1610. — At  the  death  of  Henry  HI 
by  assassination,  the  crown  fell  to  Henry  Bourbon,  King  of  Navarre, 
a  Huguenot.  The  great  majority  of  the  French  people  were  Catho¬ 
lic,  and  that  they  should  be  ruled  by  a  Protestant  king  was  cer¬ 
tainly  in  that  day  an  ahomaly,  and  scarcely  to  be  endured.  After 
four  years  of  conflict  Henry,  primarily  for  political  motives,  abjured 
Protestantism  and  became  a  Catholic. 

13K  Edict  of  Nantes  (1598) ;  Work  of  Henry  IV.  —  It  was  not 
to  be  expected  that  Henry  would  ill-treat  his  former  friends,  the 

1  The  origin  of  the  name  is  uncertain. 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE  615 


Huguenots.  Nor  did  he,  for  by  the  celebrated  Edict  of  Nantes 
(April  13,  1598)  the  Huguenots  were  given  absolute  freedom  of 
conscience  with  a  somewhat  qualified  freedom  of  worship,  and  all 
public  positions  were  opened  to  them  the  same  as  to  Catholics. 
This  was  the  first  formal  national  act  of  religious  toleration  since 
the  days  of  Constantine.^ 

Henry,  with  the  aid  of  his  great  minister.  Sully,  strove  to  benefit 
his  people  ;  and  under  his  beneficent  rule  France  began  to  prosper 
as  she  had  not  done  for  many  years.  Unfortunately  for  his  coun¬ 
try,  Henry  was  assassinated  by  a  fanatic  (1610). 

132.  Louis  XIII  (1610-1643);  Richelieu.  —  Henry  was  suc¬ 
ceeded  by  his  son,  Louis  XHI,  a  boy  of  nine  years  (1610-1643). 
For  seven  years  France  was  misgoverned  by  his  mother,  Maria  de’ 
Medici.  Then  Louis  himself  assumed  the  power  (1617),  and  in 
1624  made  Cardinal  Richelieu  his  prime  minister.  Richelieu  was 
an  extraordinarily  able  man,  and  for  about  eighteen  years  was  not 
only  the  real  ruler  of  France,  but  exercised  a  vast  influence  over 
all  Europe.  His  objects  were  to  make  the  crown  absolute,  and  to 
raise  France  to  the  position  of  the  first  power  in  Europe.  In  both 
of  these  he  was  ultimately  successful.  The  first  step  was  to  de¬ 
stroy  the  political  power  of  the  Huguenots.  These  latter,  since 
the  death  of  Henry  IV,  were  doubtless  a  disturbing  element. 
Richelieu  watched  his  opportunity  and  besieged  La  Rochelle. 
Charles  I  of  England  sent  a  fleet  to  assist  the  Huguenots  (His¬ 
tory,  §  363),  but  it  was  unsuccessful,  and  in  1628  the  city  sur¬ 
rendered.  ■  Richelieu  confirmed  the  civil  and  religious  privileges 
given  the  Huguenots  under  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  but  withdrew  all 
the  special  political  ones.  He  also  by  various  means  put  down 
the  restless  and  independent  nobility,  and  in  every  way  strength¬ 
ened  the  royal  power,  so  that  France  became  the  most  centralized 
government  in  Europe. 

133.  Richelieu’s  Foreign  Policy.  —  The  settlement  of  domestic 
affairs  left  him  at  liberty  to  pursue  his  other  object,  that  of  making 

1  In  Paris  and  some  other  places  Protestant  worship  was  forbidden.  Henry, 
perhaps  from  necessity,  gave  the  Huguenots  certain  fortified  towns,  among  them 
La  Rochelle  and  Ntmes.  This  introduced  a  political  element,  which  later  caused 
Richelieu  to  attack  the  Huguenots  on  political  grounds. 


6i6 


APPENDIX  I 


France  the  chief  power  in  Europe.  His  great  rival  was  Spain. 
To  attack  the  Hapsburgs  was  to  weaken  Spain,  and  so  he  sup¬ 
ported  the  German  Protestants,  both  with  money  and  troops.  The 
result  was,  though  Richelieu  did  not  live  ^  to  see  the  completion 
of  his  plans,  that  France  not  only  attained  the  first  place  in  Europe 
but  gained  as  well  territory  (Alsace)  which  she  held  for  more  than 
two  hundred  years  (1871). 

134.  The  Netherlands. — The  Netherlands,  comprising  nearly 
what  is  now  Belgium  and  Holland,  passed  with  Mary  of  Burgundy 
to  the  Hapsburgs  on  her  marriage  with  Maximilian  (§  93), 
and  was  inherited  by  Charles  of  Spain  (the  Emperor  Charles  V). 
The  seventeen  provinces  were  inhabited  by  peoples  of  different 
race  and  language,  and  were  simply  a  collection  of  small  states. 
In  the  southern  portions  the  government  was  oligarchical,  in  the 
northern  more  nearly  democratic.  Each  province  had  its  own 
government  and  its  own  social  and  political  institutions.  That 
these  provinces  were  grouped  together  was  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  Dukes  of  Burgundy  had  gained  them  singly.  Efforts  had  been 
made  from  time  to  time  to  establish  a  definite  union,  a  policy 
which  Charles  V  steadily  followed. 

135.  Protestantism  in  the  Netherlands. — Where  there  was  so 
much  independence,  as  was  the  case  in  the  northern  provinces,  it 
was  natural  that  Protestantism  should  have  made  great  headway. 
Charles,  from  political  rather  than  religious  motives,  tried  to  crush 
out  heresy.  When  Charles  abdicated  (1555),  he  gave  the  Nether¬ 
lands  to  his  son,  Philip  H. 

Philip  resolved  to  reduce  the  turbulent  provinces  to  obedience 
and  to  extirpate  heresy.  To  carry  out  this  plan  he  sent  (1567)  as 
his  agent  the  Duke  of  Alva,  an  able  general  and  “  remorseless  ” 
man,  investing  him  with  supreme  control  in  both  political  and  re¬ 
ligious  affairs.  The  very  reputation  of  Alva  was  enough  to  send 
thousands  to  England,  where  their  looms  manufactured  such  cloth 
as  had  given  Flemish  weavers  a  European  reputation. 

Alva’s  rule  justified  his  reputation.  He  himself  boasted  later 
that  he.  had  put  more  than  eighteen  thousand  to  death.  Probably 
the  annals  of  no  other  country  can  reveal  greater  or  more  refined 


1  Richelieu  died  164a, 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE  617 


cruelty.  His  action  was  based  on  political  quite  as  much  as  on  re¬ 
ligious  grounds,  but  it  is  for  his  cruelty  and  vindictiveness  in 
religious  persecution  that  he  is  chiefly  remembered. 

The  people  endured  Philip’s  rule  for  ten  years.  Catholics  as  well 
as  Protestants  had  protested  against  the  Spanish  exactions,  but  in 
vain,  Alva  was  the  answer.  Already  a  league  had  been  formed  to 
make  resistance.  It  needed  but  little  more  to  make  a  revolt. 
Alva’s  plan  was  to  put  the  leaders  out  of  the  way,  and  so  he  con¬ 
stituted,  by  his  own  authority,  a  special  tribunal  to  try  suspicious 
cases.  This  soon  came  to  be  known  as  the  “  Council  of  Blood.” 

136.  William  of  Orange. — -William  of  Orange,  Count  of  Nas¬ 
sau,  had  been  a  faithful  servant  of  Charles  V,  but  the  oppressive 
Spanish  rule  drove  him  to  the  other  side.  He  became  a  Protes¬ 
tant  and  the  leader  of  the  revolt.  Known  as  William  the  Silent, 
he  holds  a  high  place  in  history  as  one  who,  against  almost  hope¬ 
less  odds,  undertook  to  deliver  his  people  from  tyranny.  Natu¬ 
rally,  his  strongest  support  was  found  in  the  northern  provinces, 
whose  inhabitants  were  mostly  Protestant.  Gathering  a  small 
army,  he  began  the  struggle  in  1568. 

137.  Alva ;  Elizabeth ;  Dutch  Republic.  1572. — Alva  determined 
to  support  the  war  by  taxes  levied  in  the  country  itself.  This 
almost  destroyed  trade  and  manufacturing,  and  drove  the  Catho¬ 
lics  of  the  south  to  join  with  the  Protestants  of  the  north.  About 
1569,  William  gave  letters  of  marque  to  some  corsairs,  part  Dutch 
and  part  English,  who  roved  the  North  Sea.  As  the  Spanish  access 
to  the  Netherlands  was  by  sea,  these  rovers,  or  “Sea  Beggars,”  as 
they  were  called,  inflicted  lasting  injury  on  Spanish  commerce. 
Elizabeth  of  England,  so  long  as  there  was  reason  to  fear  Spain, 
allowed  these  freebooters  to  take  shelter  and  sell  their  spoils  in 
England  ;  but  as  Spain  became  more  closely  occupied  with  the 
revolt,  and  France  more  engrossed  with  her  religious  wars,  she 
had  little  to  fear  from  either,  and  not  wishing  to  get  into  war,  de¬ 
clined  to  continue  the  privileges.  Upon  this  the  leader  of  the 
freebooters  seized  Bribe,  a  seaport  of  the  Netherlands,  in  the  name 
of  William  the  Stadtholder.  This  is  regarded  as  the  real  begin¬ 
ning  of  the  Dutch  Republic,  .April  i,  1572. 

At  last,  after  six  years  of  tyranny,  Alva  was  recalled.  Moderate 


6i8 


APPENDIX  I 


men  were  sent,  who  were  able  to  detach  the  southern  provinces 
from  the  northern^  But  the  northern  held  out,  and  in  1579  seven 
provinces  formed  the  Union  of  Utrecht,  and  two  years  later  (1581) 
declared  themselves  independent.  In  1584,  while  in  his  own 
house  at  Delft,  William  was  assassinated  by  a  fanatic. 

138.  Elizabeth’s  Policy ;  Spanish  Armada  (1588) ;  Dutch  Inde¬ 
pendence.  1609.  —  Elizabeth,  in  her  relations  with  the  Dutch,  fol¬ 
lowed  her  usual  policy  of  playing  fast  and  loose  as  suited  her  plans. 
At  last  she  decided  to  assist  them,  and  sent  her  favorite,  the  Earl 
of  Leicester,  with  troops  to  Holland  (1585).  The  states  needing 
a  governor-general  had  already  offered  the  position  to  Elizabeth, 
but  she  had  declined ;  now  they  offered  it  to  Leicester,  who  ac¬ 
cepted  it  without  consulting  Elizabeth.  Angry  that  he  should  have 
taken  this  step  without  her  approval,  she  refused  for  some  time  to 
recognize  the  appointment.  Leicester  was  unfitted  for  the  posi¬ 
tion,  and  Elizabeth  finally  recalled  him  (1587).  Incapable  as 
Leicester  was,  his  failure  was  in  no  small  degree  due  to  the  vacil¬ 
lating  and  underhand  measures  of  Elizabeth  herself,  who  used  the 
Netherlands  to  further  her  own  ends.“ 

Philip,  weary  of  the  course  of  Elizabeth,  believed  that  if  he 
could  conquer  her,  most  of  his  difficulties  would  be  solved,  and  so 
set  about  the  preparation  of  the  Armada,  of  which  an  account  is 
given  elsewhere  (History,  §§  322-324).  The  disaster  which  be¬ 
fell  the  expedition  decisively  influenced  the  course  of  events  in  the 
Netherlands,  for  Philip  was  so  much  weakened  that  it  was  impos¬ 
sible  for  him  to  carry  on  the  contest  with  vigor.  In  1609,  a 
twelve  years’  truce  was  agreed  upon  between  Spain  and  the 
United  Provinces,  by  the  terms  of  which  the  independence  of  the 
latter  was  acknowledged  and  freedom  of  trade  granted.  In  1648, 
by  the  Treaty  of  Westphalia,  their  independence  was  confirmed. 

139.  Reformation  within  the  Church.  —  The  need  of  reform  in 
the  church  was  obvious  to  all  thinking  men  in  the  fifteenth  and 
sixteenth  centuries,  but  it  was  not  till  about  the  middle  of  the 

1  It  should  be  remembered  that  the  southern  provinces  were  different  from  the 
northern  in  race,  language,  and  religion.  It  was  Alva’s  tyranny  which  had  united 
them. 

2  It  was  during  this  campaign  that  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  the  flower  of  the  English 
nation,  lost  his  life  near  Zutphen. 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE  619 

sixteenth  century  that  active  steps  were  taken  to  better  conditions. 
That  which  came  to  pass,  often  called,  though  not  accurately,  the 
“  Counter  Reformation,”  was  due  to  several  causes.  Three  of 
the  most  important  are:  (i)  the  formation  of  the  Society  of 
Jesus,  whose  members  are  known  as  Jesuits ;  (2)  the  Council 
of  Trent;  (3)  the  Inquisition. 

140.  Loyola;  Society  of  Jesus. — (i)  The  founder  of  the  So¬ 
ciety  of  Jesus  was  Ignatius  Loyola  (born  1491),  a  Spanish  noble¬ 
man.  He  was  a  soldier  who,  through  a  severe  wound,  had  been 
rendered  incapable  of  military  service.  Deeply  impressed  by  read¬ 
ing  certain  “  Lives  of  the  Saints,”  he  resolved  to  establish  a  religious 
army  to  fight  the  enemies  of  religion  and  to  enter  upon  missionary 
service  to  convert  the  heathen. 

He  prepared  himself  carefully  for  his  work,  and  in  1534  founded 
his  society.  The  Pope,  Paul  HI,  at  first  held  aloof,  but  afterward 
gave  the  enterprise  his  approval.  The  society  was  organized  like 
a  military  army,  absolute  obedience  to  the  superior  being  required 
from  the  members.  The  head  was  a  general.  All  the  members 
were  required  to  take  a  vow  of  obedience  to  the  Pope.  The  order 
soon  became  a  great  power.  Not  only  were  its  members  mis¬ 
sionaries  and  preachers,  but  they  established  some  of  the  best 
schools  in  Europe.  They  became  able  diplomats,  and  shrewd  in 
political  craft;  they  were  skillful  propagandists,  and,  through  their 
efforts,  many  prominent  men  were  brought  back  to  Catholicism, 
and  lukewarm  advocates  made  strong  supporters  of  it.  So  suc¬ 
cessful  were  they  that  nearly  all  southern  Germany,  and  France, 
and  all  Italy,  Spain,  and  Poland  became  definitely  Catholic,  and 
not  a  few  in  northern  Germany  gave  in  their  adherence  to  the 
old  church.  The  faithfulness  and  zeal  of  the  Jesuit  missionaries 
in  America,  Asia,  and  elsewhere  is  worthy  of  admiration. 

141.  Council  of  Trent.  1545-1563.  —  (2)  The  Popes  had  hesi¬ 
tated,  as  has  been  seen,  to  call  a  general  council  of  the  church, 
possibly  fearing  that  their  power  might  in  some  way  be  curtailed. 
But  at  last  Pope  Paul  HI  gave  way  to  the  wishes  of  the  emperor, 
and  after  two  or  three  delays  a  council  met  December  13,  1545, 
at  Trent,  in  Italy,  but  near  the  bounds  of  Germany.  The  council 
was  under  Italian  and  papal  control  from  the  beginning. 


620 


APPENDIX  I 


There  was  much  discussion  and  debating;  in  1547  the  council 
was  removed  to  Bologna,  and  was  suspended  in  1549.  It  was 
summoned  again  to  Trent  in  1551,  but  was  suspended  the  next 
year.  It  was  not  called  together  again  until  1562,  and  closed 
finally  in  1563.  No  Protestants  shared  in  its  deliberations,  and 
so  it  was  not  representative  of  the  whole  Christian  church  in 
Europe,  as  the  emperor  had  hoped  would  be  the  case.^ 

The  results  of  the  council  were  far  reaching :  Catholic  doctrine 
was,  for  the  first  time,  carefully  formulated  in  statements  which 
had  to  be  accepted  by  church  members.  The  authority  of  the 
Pope  was  greatly  strengthened,  the  value  of  tradition  emphasized, 
and  tradition  itself  placed  on  an  equality  with  Scripture.  A  genu¬ 
ine  reform  in  the  life  and  work  of  the  clergy  was  instituted ;  and 
the  Pope  was  authorized  to  draw  up  a  list  of  books  to  be  pro¬ 
hibited  on  account  of  their  heretical  teachings.*  Much  other  im¬ 
portant  action  was  taken,  and  the  Church  of  Rome  to-day  is  in 
many  respects  largely  what  the  Council  of  Trent  made  it. 

142.  Inquisition.  —  (3)  Among  other  things,  the  Council  of 
Trent  extended  the  Inquisition  to  other  countries  than  Spain,  and 
it  became  a  great  instrument  in  discovering  and  uprooting  heresy. 
In  Spain  and  parts  of  Italy  it  was  successful,  but  it  failed  in  the 
Netherlands. 

143.  State  of  Germany.  1618.  —  Perhaps  no  period  in  history 
is  more  difficult  to  describe  with  clearness  than  that  known  as  the 
Thirty  Years’  War.  In  it  religious  and  political  motives,  national 
rivalry,  personal  selfishness  and  personal  ambition,  and  greed  for 
plunder  are  so  mingled  that  it  is  impossible  to  separate  them. 
The  one  man  who  stands  out  worthy  of  commendation  —  the  only 
real  hero  —  is  Gustavus  Adolphus  of  Sweden. 

Germany  in  1618  consisted  of  about  four  hundred  states  united 
in  a  very  loose  confederation,  and  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  — 
whose  head  was  elected  for  life.  In  addition  to  the  natural  fric¬ 
tion  resulting  from  the  political  situation,  there  was  the  friction 

1  From  this  time  the  title  Roman  Catholic  Church  has  been  frequently  use'd  to 
designate  the  Church  of  Rome.  No  other  council  was  held  until  the  Vatican 
Council  in  1869-1870. 

2  This  is  known  as  the  Index  Expurgatorius. 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE  62  I 


arising  from  differences  of  religion,  not  only  between  Catholic  and 
Protestant,  but  also  between  Protestant  sects.  The  religious  peace 
of  Augsburg  (1555)  had  been  both  a  postponement  of  trouble  and 
a  cause  of  irritation.  The  Protestants  were  most  numerous  in  the 
north,  the  Catholics  in  the  south. 

144.  Bohemia;  Beginning  of  the  War.  1618. — After  1438  the 
head  of  the  empire  had  always  been  a  member  of  the  house  of 
Hapsburg,  who  ruled  Austria.  He  also  ruled  Hungary,  and  at 
this  time  was  king  of  Bohemia  as  well.  The  Emperor  Matthias 
(1612-1617)  was  childless,  and  wished  a  cousin,  Ferdinand  of 
Styria,  to  succeed  him.  In  the  negotiations  relating  to  this  plan 
Bohemia  and  Hungary,  both  elective  monarchies,  were  promised 
to  Ferdinand,  who  was  a  strong  Catholic.  The  Bohemian  nobles, 
who  were  Protestants,  fearful  of  injury  to  the  Protestant  cause  and 
themselves,  after  appealing  in  vain  to  Matthias,  sent  an  armed 
deputation  to  Prague.  Charging  the  two  unpopular  regents  with 
being  the  cause  of  the  emperor’s  position,  they  threw  them  out 
of  the  window  of  the  castle.*  This  act  (May  23,  1618)  is  usually 
taken  as  the  beginning  of  the  Thirty  Years’  War.  The  revolution 
was  ill-advised.  The  Bohemian  nobles  were  not  united,  the  peo¬ 
ple  had  no  wish  to  bear  the  cost  of  war,  and  the  effort  would  have 
amounted  to  little  had  not  Christian  of  Anhalt,  an  able  man,  but 
destitute  of  foresight  and  political  judgment,  determined  to  aid 
the  Bohemian  rebels.  He  was  joined  by  Frederick  V,^  Elector 
Palatine,  the  young  son-in-law  of  James  I  of  England.  There  are 
four  distinct  periods  of  the  war :  (i)  the  Bohemian ;  (2)  the 
Danish  ;  (3)  the  Swedish  ;  (4)  the  French. 

145.  (i)  Frederick,  King  of  Bohemia.  1619.  —  The  Emperor 
Matthias  died  in  1691,  and  pending  the  election  of  his  successor, 
the  Bohemian  nobles,  claiming  the  right  of  election,  chose  Fred¬ 
erick,  the  Elector  Palatine,  as  king  of  Bohemia.®  Frederick 

1  Though  the  fall  was  about  seventy  feet  into  the  fosse,  or  ditch,  the  men  were 
not  seriously  injured. 

Frederick  had  married  (1613)  when  only  seventeen  the  Princess  Elizabeth 
of  England.  The  capital  of  the  Palatinate  was  Heidelberg;  its  castle,  now  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  ruins  in  Europe,  was  the  electoral  residence.  Elizabeth  was 
the  mother  ofPrince  Rupert  of  Civil  War  fame,  and  George  I  of  England  was  her 
grandson.  3  Frederick  was  only  twenty-three. 


622 


APPENDIX  I 


most  unwisely  accepted  before  ascertaining  whether  the  Protestant 
powers  —  England,  Netherlands,  and  the  Protestant  rulers  in  Ger¬ 
many —  would  support  him.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  they  held  aloof. 
Ferdinand  was  chosen  emperor  (1619).  He  was  a  strong  man, 
but  narrow-minded,  and  determined  to  restore  the  empire  to  its 
former  limits,  and  make  it  wholly  Catholic. 

The  English  people  were  strongly  in  favor  of  aiding  Frederick, 
both  as  a  Protestant  and  as  the  husband  of  an  English  princess. 
James  I,  timid  by  nature,  dilatory,  and  having  an  exalted  opinion 
of  his  power  as  a  diplomat,  would  take  no  active  measures,  and 
so,  with  the  exception  of  allowing  some  volunteers  to  go  to  the 
Continent  (History,  §  351),  nothing  was  done. 

146.  Defeat  of  Frederick.  1620. — The  Catholic  rulers  in  Ger¬ 
many  naturally  supported  Ferdinand  in  his  campaign  to  defeat 
Frederick.  A  short  but  decisive  battle  was  fought  near  Prague 
(November  8,  1620),  in  which  Frederick’s  forces  were  routed  in 
about  an  hour,  and  he  was  forced  to  fly.  This  was  bad  enough, 
but  in  1621  the  Duke  of  Bavaria  invaded  and  seized  the  Upper 
Palatinate,  and  a  Spanish  army  conquered  the  Lower  Palatinate 
(1622),  so  Frederick  lost  not  only  the  crown  of  Bohemia,  but  all 
his  hereditary  possessions  as  well,  and  became  an  exile  for  the  rest 
of  his  life.  Owing  to  the  shortness  of  his  reign  he  is  often  called 
the  “  Winter  King.” 

147.  (2)  The  War;  Wallenstein.  —  From  this  time  Northern 
Germany  was  little  more  than  a  battle  ground.  The  invasion  of 
the  imperial  troops  at  length  frightened  the  Protestants,  and  Chris¬ 
tian  of  Denmark,  who,  as  Duke  of  Holstein,  had  great  interest  in 
the  affairs  of  northern  Germany,  resolved  to  intervene.  The  em¬ 
peror  was  without  an  army  for  North  Germany,  but  Wallenstein,^ 
a  Bohemian  soldier  of  fortune,  who  had  managed  to  secure  large 
estates  in  Bohemia,  offered  to  raise  an  army  for  the  emperor  at  his 
own  expense,  and  promising  that  if  he  were  allowed  to  levy  contri¬ 
butions  on  the  countries  occupied,  the  maintenance  of  the  army 
would  not  cost  the  emperor  anything.  Mansfield,  the  general  of 
the  Protestant  forces,  had  supported  his  army  by  plunder ;  Tilly, 
the  commander  of  the  Catholic  League,  had  not  been  much  better, 

1  His  real  name  was  Albert  of  VValdstein. 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE  623 

and  Wallenstein’s  plan,  though  more  plausible,  was  practically  the 
same.  Ferdinand,  who  had  to  choose  between  Wallenstein  and 
doing  nothing,  chose  Wallenstein.  Christian  was  defeated,  and 
northern  Germany  became  a  prey  to  Wallenstein  and  his  army. 
The  emperor  issued  what  is  known  as  the  Edict  of  Restitution 
(1629),  which  restored  all  ecclesiastical  possessions  to  the  Catho¬ 
lics.  This  was  the  political  turning  point  of  the  war  for  its  sever¬ 
ity  stirred  up  opposition. 

148.  (3)  Gustavus  Adolphus.  1630.  —  But  in  1630  another  ele¬ 
ment  was  introduced.  Gustavus  Adolphus,  King  of  Sweden,  a 
strong  Protestant,  the  ablest  general  of  his  time,  entered  Germany 
with  an  army  restrained  by  severe  discipline.  Two  motives,  per¬ 
haps  with  equal  force,  impelled  Gustavus  —  the  one,  to  defend  the 
cause  of  Protestantism ;  the  other  to  extend  the  domains  of 
Sweden. 

He  was  almost  uniformly  successful,  and  he  marched  through  a 
large  part  of  Germany.  Wallenstein,  who  had  been  dismissed  by 
the  emperor,  was  recalled,  and  the  two  greatest  generals  of  the 
whole  war  met  at  Liitzen,  Saxony  (November  16,  1632).  The 
battle  was  long  and  bloody.  Wallenstein  was  defeated,  but  the 
Swedish  hero,  Gustavus,  was  slain. 

149.  War  Continues;  England.  —  The  war,  however,  was  not 
ended.  The  Protestant  princes,  notwithstanding  all  that  Germany 
had  suffered,  were  still  divided,  and  the  emperor  was  too  weak 
to  accomplish  much.  The  war  became  a  guerrilla  conflict,  and 
soldiers  pillaged  the  land  and  committed  terrible  atrocities. 
Wallenstein,  who  had  extensive  plans  for  a  united  Germany, 
entered  into  negotiations,  now  with  Richelieu,  now  with  the  Prot¬ 
estants,  and  in  consequence  became  distrusted  by  the  emperor 
and  by  the  Catholics.  In  1634  he  was  assassinated. 

England  had  not  been  simply  a  spectator.  James  I  had  tried 
to  support  Mansfield.  In  1624  he  sent  ambassadors  to  the  king 
of  Denmark  and  to  Gustavus  Adolphus,  urging  them  to  help  the 
course  of  Protestantism  in  Germany,  and  restore  Germany  to  its 
former  state.  The  kings  had  little  confidence  in  James,  and  the 
negotiations  amounted  to  little.  In  1625  James  died,  and  Charles  I 
agreed  to  help  the  King  of  Denmark  by  sending  funds.  Some 


624 


APPENDIX  I 


money  was  sent,  but  Parliament,  distrusting  Charles  and  not  liking 
to  send  money  to  Germany,  refused  to  make  appropriations,  and 
Charles  was  helpless. 

150.  (4)  France  and  Richelieu.  — The  part  Richelieu  played  in 
the  conflict  has  already  been  referred  to.  That  Germany  should 
be  united  into  one  strong  power  menacing  France  could  not  be 
endured.  Spain  ruled  by  Hapsburgs,  aided  the  emperor,  so  Spain 
was  an  enemy  of  France.  Therefore  Richelieu  helped  the  Prot¬ 
estants.  The  Spanish  Netherlands  were  invaded  (1635), 

the  death  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  the  Swedish  army  in  time  came 
under  the  control  of  France.  Richelieu  died  in  1642,  but  his  suc¬ 
cessor,  the  astute  Mazarin,  continued  his  policy.  The  war  went 
on,  the  emperor  and  his  allies  steadily  losing.  Long  before  this 
the  conflict  had  become  a  strife  for  mastery  between  France,  and 
Spain  and  the  emperor. 

151.  Peace  of  Westphalia.  1648. —  At  last  all  parties  were  weary, 
and  negotiations  began  in  1644.  So  difficult  were  the  problems  to 
be  settled  that  it  was  not  until  1648  that  the  Treaty  of  Westphalia 
was  agreed  upon  and  signed.  Under  the  terms  of  this  treaty 
Europe  was  administered  till  the  French  Revolution  (1789).  As 
in  previous  negotiations,  all  was  done  in  the  interests  of  princes, 
and  the  people  received  little  or  no  consideration.  The  principal 
of  cujus  regio  ejus  religio  (§  125)  was  observed,  except  that 
Calvinism  was  recognized.  A  prince,  whether  Catholic  or 
Protestant,  if  he  chose,  could  force  his  subjects  to  adopt  his  religion 
or  be  banished  from  their  homes.  It  must  be  said,  however,  that 
conditions  were  far  different  from  those  in  1555  (Peace  of  Augs¬ 
burg)  ;  now,  practically  every  one  was  sick  of  disputes  and  fight¬ 
ings,  the  desire  of  gaining  proselytes  was  driven  out  by  the  stern 
and  awful  lessons  of  war,  and  peace  was  longed  for  above  all  else. 

152.  Results  of  the  War. —  The  accounts  of  the  ravages  of  the 
war  are  too  dreadful  to  repeat.  Even  the  soldiers  fared  hardly. 
“  No  careful  surgeon  passed  over  the  battle  field  to  save  life  or 
limb.  No  hospitals  received  the  wounded  to  the  tender  nursing  of 
loving  gentle  hands.  Recruits  were  to  be  bought  cheaply,  and  it 
cost  less  to  enrol  a  new  soldier  than  to  cure  an  old  one.” 

The  extent  of  the  devastation  is  almost  past  belief ;  lands  lay 


BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  CONTINENTAL  EUROPE  625 

uncultivated  where  there  had  been  thousands  of  happy  laborers ; 
cities  and  towns  were  more  than  decimated  ;  the  prosperous  city  of 
Augsburg,  which  in  1618  had  eighty  thousand  inhabitants,  in  1648 
had  but  sixteen  thousand  ;  indeed,  above  two  thirds  of  the  popu¬ 
lation  of  Germany  are  said  to  have  disappeared.  Hundreds  of 
villages  were  completely  wiped  out.  But  even  worse  than  all  this, 
was  the  moral  decline  of  the  community.  It  took  Germany  a 
century  or  more  to  recover  from  the  effects  of  this  awful  period  of 
brutal  warfare. 

Politically,  Germany  remained  a  collection  of  about  four  hun¬ 
dred  independent  states.  The  empire  was  a  name  rather  than  a 
reality,  and  the  Diet  had  little  or  no  authority.  Germany  contin¬ 
ued  to  be  “  a  geographical  expression  ”  for  two  centuries.  France, 
under  Louis  XIV,  was  the  chief  power  in  Europe,  one  with  which 
all  the  rest  of  Europe  had  to  reckon. 

From  this  time,  the  affairs  of  northern  and  central  Europe  and 
of  Italy  are  too  much  in  detail  to  follow  in  a  brief  general  sketch, 
while  those  of  Austria,  France,  and  Spain  are,  so  far  as  they  re¬ 
late  to  England,  discussed  elsewhere. 


APPENDIX  II 


The  following  list  contains  all  the  works  referred  to  in  the  text, 
with  a  few  others.  For  more  extended  bibliographies  teachers 
and  readers  are  referred  to  Andrews,  Ganibrill,  and  Tall,  A  Bibli¬ 
ography  of  History  for  Schools  and  Libraries,  Longman’s,  N.  Y., 
1910.  60  cents. 

LIST  OF  BOOKS  FOR  COLLATERAL  READING  AND 
REFERENCES 

I.  SOURCE  BOOKS 

Cheyney,  E.  P.  :  Readings  in  English  History.  Ginn,  Boston.  $  1. 80. 
Colby,  C.  W.  :  Selections  from  the  Sources  of  English  History,  B.C.  JJ-A  D. 
j8j2.  Longmans,  N.  Y.  $1.50. 

Kendall,  E.  K.  :  Source-Book  of  English  History.  Macmillan,  N.  Y.  80 
cents. 

Lee,  G.  C. :  Source-Book  of  English  History.  Holt,  N.  Y.  $2.00. 

Cannon,  H.  L.  :  Reading  References  for  English  History. ,  Ginn,  Boston. 
$  2.50. 

(This  work  contains  a  vast  store  of  references,  but  can  only  be  used  to 
advantage  where  a  large  library  is  available.) 

Robinson,  J.  H.  :  Readings  in  European  History.  2  vols.  Vol.  i.  From 
the  Breaking  up  of  the  Roman  Empire  to  the  Protestant  Revolt ;  vol,  2, 
From  the  Opening  of  the  Protestant  Revolt  to  the  Present  Day.  Ginn, 
Boston.  ^1.50  each. 

Ogg,  F.  A. :  A  Source- Book  of  Mediceval  History.  Amer.  Book  Co.,  N.Y. 
$1.50. 

2.  GENERAL  HISTORIES 

Cheyney,  E.  P.  :  Industrial  and  Social  History  of  England.  Macmillan, 
N.Y.  S1.40. 

Gardiner,  S.  R.  :  Student's  History  of  England  from  the  Earliest  Times  to 
i88y.  >  Illustrated.  3  vols.  53-60,  or  bound  in  one  volume,  $3.00. 
Longmans,  N.  Y. 

Green,  J.  R.  :  A  Short  History  of  the  English  People.  American  Book  Co., 
N.Y.  5  1.20,  and  other  editions. 

626 


LIST  OF  BOOKS  627 

Terry,  Benjamin  :  History  of  England  fro)n  the  Earliest  Times  to  the  Death 
of  Queen  Victoria.  Scott,  Foresnian  Co.,  Chicago,  1901.  $2.00. 

Tout,  T.  F.  :  An  Advanced  History  of  Great  Britain.  Longmans,  N.  Y. 

^1.50.  . 

Traill,  H.  D.  :  Social  England  to  iSSg.  6  vols.  Putnams,  N.  Y.  ^5  21.00. 

Acland  and  Ransome  :  English  Political  History  in  Outline,  gth  ed.  Long¬ 
mans,  N.  Y.  1906.  $2.00. 

(Strictly  chronological,  with  brief  references  to  foreign  affairs.  Fully 
indexed.  A  valuable  book  of  reference  for  tlie  teacher.) 

Robinson,  J.  11. :  History  of  IVestern  Europe.  Ginn,  Boston.  2  vols.  $2.00. 
Hazen,  C.  D.  :  Europe  since  i8ip.  Holt,  N.  Y.  $3.00. 

(A  well-written  and  interesting  book.) 

3.  SPECIAL  PERIODS 

F.arly  Britain  Series,  S.  P.  C.  K.  or  E.  S.  Gorham,  N.  Y.  $  l.oo  to  ^  1.25  each. 
Rhys,  J. :  Celtic  Britain  ;  Scarth  :  Roman  Britain  ;  Allen,  G  :  Anglo- 
Saxon  Britain;  Collingwood  :  Scanditiavian  Britain;  Hunt,  W.  : 
Norman  Britain. 

Epoch  Series.  Longmans,  N.  Y.  $1.00  each.  Johnson,  A.  H.:  The  Nor¬ 
mans  in  Europe ;  Stubbs,  W.  :  The  Early  Plantagenets ;  Gairdner,  J.  : 
Lancaster  and  York;  Seebohm,  F.  :  Era  of  the  Protestant  Revolution  ; 
Creighton,  M.:  Age  of  Elizabeth;  Gardiner,  S.  R.  :  The  Puritan 
Revolution. 

Green,  J.R.:  The  Making  of  England.  Harpers,  N.  Y.  5  2.50. 

Jessop,  a.;  The  Coming  of  the  Friars,  and  Other  F.ssays.  Putnams,  N.  Y. 
^1.25. 

Macaulay,  T.  B.  :  History  of  Englatid,  Chapter  HI.  Many  editions. 
Macaulay,  T.  B.  :  Essays.  Lord  Clive ;  William  Pitt,  Earl  of  Chatham  ; 
Warren  Llastings.  Many  editions. 

4.  ATLASES 

Shepherd,  W,  R. ;  Historical  Atlas.  Holt,  1912.  5  2.50. 

The  best  handy  atlas;  unusually  clear  maps  and  full  index. 

Gardiner,  S.  R.  :  Atlas  of  English  Llistory.  Longmans,  N.  Y.  %  1. 50. 
Muir,  R.  :  New  School  Atlas  of  ALodern  Llistory,  Holt,  N.  Y.,  1911.  J  I.25. 
The  best  cheap  atlas  of  the  kind. 

5.  HISTORICAL  FICTION 

Baker,  E.  A. ;  History  in  Fiction,  etc.  English  Fiction.  (Routledge.) 
E.  P.  Dutton  &  Co.,  N.  Y.  75  cents. 

Baker,  E.  A. :  Guide  to  Historical  Idction,  Vi.z.exrNAz.ss,  VI.  X.  1913.  S6.00. 
Buckley  and  Williams  :  Guide  to  British  Historical  Fiction.  Harrap  &  Co. 
London,  1902. 


APPENDIX  III 


IMPORTANT  DATES  IN  ENGLISH  HISTORY 


BRITAIN  BEFORE  THE  COMING  OF  THE  ENGLISH 


55  B.c. 
54  • 

41  A.D. 

78-81 

I2I 

209 

410 


Caesar’s  first  expedition  to  Britain. 

Caesar’s  second  expedition  to  Britain. 

Beginning  of  Roman  conquest  of  Britain. 

Agricola’s  government  of  Britain. 

Hadrian’s  wall  built  between  the  Solway  and  Tyne. 
Severus  restored  wall  of  Hadrian. 

Roman  troops  withdrawn  from  Britain. 


ENGLAND  BEFORE  THE  NORMAN  CONQUEST 


449-586  .  . 

597  •  •  • 

827  .  .  . 

787  (about) 
871-901  .  . 

991  .  .  . 

1016-1035 
1016  .  .  . 

1042-1066  . 

1066  .  .  . 

1066,  October 


First  English  Settlement  of  Britain. 
Landing  of  St.  Augustine. 

Egbert  becomes  king  of  all  England. 
The  Danish  invasions  begin. 

Alfred’s  reign. 

Danegeld  first  paid. 

Cnut  (Canute)  first  Danish  king. 
Edmund  Ironside. 

Edward  the  Confessor. 

Harold  H. 

Battle  of  Hastings. 


ENGLAND  UNDER  NORMAN  KINGS 


1066-1087 

.  .  William  the  Conqueror. 

1085-1086 

.  .  Domesday  Book. 

1087-1100 

.  .  William  II. 

1093  .  . 

.  .  Anselm  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

IIOO-II35 

.  .  Henry  I. 

I  too  .  . 

.  .  First  charter. 

1 1 35-1 1 54 

.  .  Stephen  of  Blois. 

”53  •  • 

.  .  Treaty  of  Wallingford. 

628 

IMPORTANT  DATES  IN  ENGLISH  HISTORY  629 
ENGLAND  UNDER  PLANTAGENET  KINGS 


1154-1189 

.  . 

Henry  II,  of  Anjou. 

1154  .  . 

Becket  chancellor. 

1162  .  . 

Becket  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

1164  .  . 

Constitutions  of  Clarendon. 

1170,  December 

Becket  murdered. 

1171  .  . 

English  rule  in  Ireland  begins. 

1176  .  . 

Circuit  judges  established. 

1189-1199 

Richard  I. 

1199-1216 

John. 

1206  .  . 

Stephen  Langton  Archbishop. 

1213  .  . 

John’s  homage  to  Pope  Innocent  HI. 

1215  .  . 

Magna  Charta. 

1216-1272 

Henry  III. 

1258  .  . 

Provisions  of  Oxford. 

1 264  .  . 

Battle  of  Lewes. 

1265  .  . 

Battle  of  Evesham. 

1265  .  . 

Beginning  of  the  House  of  Commons. 

1272-1307 

Edward  I. 

1276-1284 

Conquest  of  Wales. 

1 290  .  . 

Jews  ordered  to  leave  England. 

1295  .  . 

Edward  invades  Scotland.  First  Complete  Parliament. 

1297  .  . 

Confirmation  of  the  charters. 

1307-1327 

Edward  II. 

1314  .  . 

Battle  of  Bannockburn. 

1327-1377 

Edward  III. 

•338  .  . 

Hundred  Years’  War  begins. 

1340  .  . 

Battle  of  Sluys. 

1346  .  . 

Battle  of  Crecy. 

1347  •  • 

Capture  of  Calais. 

1348-1349 

The  Black  Death. 

1349  •  • 

First  Statute  of  I.aborers. 

1356  •  • 

Battle  of  Poitiers. 

1362  .  . 

English  language  used  in  law  courts. 

i377-'399 

Richard  II. 

1381  .  . 

The  Peasant’s  revolt.  Wycliffe’s  Bible. 

ENGLAND  UNDER  HOUSES  OF  LANCASTER  AND  YORK 

1399-1413  .  .  Henry  IV. 

1403  ....  Battle  of  Shrewsbury. 

1413-1422  .  .  Henry  V. 

1414  .  .  .  .  Lollard  rising. 


630 


APPENDIX  III 


1415,  October 
1422-1461 

1429  .  .  . 

1431  .  .  . 

1449  .  .  . 

1450  .  .  . 

1453  •  •  • 

1455  •  •  • 

1461-1483  . 

1466  .  .  . 

1471  .  .  . 

1477  .  .  . 

1483  .  .  . 

1483-1485  . 

1485  .  .  . 


Battle  of  Agincourt. 

Henry  VI. 

English  defeated  at  Orleans.  Joan  of  Arc. 

“  Joan  of  Arc  ”  burned  at  Rouen. 

Normandy  lost  by  English. 

Jack  Cade’s  (Yorkist)  rising. 

Hundred  Years’  War  ends.  Loss  of  all  French  territory, 
except  Calais. 

Wars  of  the  Roses  begin. 

Edward  IV. 

Henry  VI  prisoner  in  Tower. 

Edward  IV  wins  battles  of  Barnet  and  Tewkesbury. 
Caxton  introduces  printing. 

Edward  V,  king,  and  murdered. 

Richard  III. 

Battle  of  Bosworth;  end  of  the  Wars  of  the  Roses. 


1485-1509 
i486  .  . 

1492  .  . 

1492  .  . 

1502  .  . 

1509-1547 

15*3-1529 

*5*3  •  • 

1529  .  . 

1533-1540 
1534  •  • 

1536  .  . 

1536  .  . 

1536  .  . 

1547-1553 

1548  .  . 

1553-1558 
1554  .  . 
*554  •  . 

*554  ‘  ■  ■ 
*556-*558 
*558  .  . 


ENGLAND  UNDER  THE  TUDORS 

.  Henry  VII. 

.  Star  Chamber. 

.  Perkin  Warbeck’s  revolt. 

.  America  discovered. 

.  Princess  Margaret  marries  James  IV  of  Scotland. 

.  Henry  VIII. 

.  Wolsey  in  power. 

.  Battle  of  Flodden  Field. 

.  Fall  of  Wolsey. 

.  Thomas  Cromwell  in  power. 

.  Act  of  Supremacy. 

.  Suppression  of  monasteries  begins.  Pilgrimage  of 
Grace. 

.  Wales  united  with  England. 

.  Anne  Boleyn  executed. 

.  Edward  VI. 

.  First  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 

.  Mary. 

.  Wyatt’s  insurrection. 

.  Lady  Jane  Grey  executed. 

.  Mary  I  marries  Philip  II. 

.  The  persecution. 

.  Loss  of  Calais. 


IMPORTANT  DATES  IN  ENGLISH  HISTORY 


1558-1603  . 

.  Elizabeth. 

1559  .  .  . 

.  Court  of  High  Commission  founded. 

1563  .  .  . 

.  English  Reformation  completed. 

1568  .  .  . 

.  Mary  Stuart  flees  to  England. 

1577-1580  . 

.  Sir  Francis  Drake  sails  round  world. 

1587  .  .  . 

.  Mary  Stuart  executed. 

1588  .  .  . 

.  Spanish  Armada. 

1600  .  .  . 

.  East  India  Company’s  Charter. 

i6oi  .  .  . 

.  Poor  Law  passed. 

ENGLAND  UNDER  THE  SPUARTS 

1603-1625 

.  James  I. 

1603  .  .  . 

.  Union  of  the  crowns  of  England  and  Scotland 

1605  .  .  . 

.  Gunpowder  Plot. 

1611  .  .  . 

.  Authorized  Version  of  Bible. 

1620  .  .  . 

.  Pilgrim  P'athers. 

1625-1649 

.  Charles  I. 

1628  .  .  . 

.  Petition  of  Right. 

1633  •  •  • 

.  Wentworth  lord-deputy  in  Ireland. 

1633  •  •  • 

.  Laud  made  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

1635  .  .  . 

.  Ship-money  resisted  by  Hampden. 

1638  .  .  . 

.  The  National  Covenant. 

1640  .  .  . 

.  Long  Parliament  met. 

1641  .  .  . 

.  Strafford  executed. 

1641  .  .  . 

.  Court  of  High  Commission  aliolished. 

1641  .  .  . 

.  Court  of  Star  Chamber  abolished. 

1641  .  .  . 

.  The  Grand  Remonstrance. 

1642  .  .  . 

.  Attempted  arrest  of  Five  Members. 

1642  .  .  . 

.  Civil  War  begins. 

1643  .  .  . 

.  Solemn  League  and  Covenant. 

1644  .  .  . 

.  Battle  of  Marston  Moor. 

1645  .  .  . 

.  Self-denying  Ordinance. 

1645  •  •  • 

.  Laud  executed. 

1645  .  .  . 

.  Battle  of  Naseby. 

1647  .  .  . 

.  Charles  I  given  up  to  Parliament. 

1648  .  .  . 

.  “  Pride’s  Purge.” 

1649  .  .  . 

.  Charles  I  executed. 

1649-1660  . 

.  The  Commonwealth. 

1649-1650  . 

.  Cromwell  in  Ireland. 

1650  .  .  . 

.  Battle  of  Dunbar. 

1651  .  .  . 

.  Battle  of  Worcester. 

1653  .  .  . 

.  Cromwell  expels  Long  Parliament. 

631 


APPENDIX  III 


6^2 


1653  .  . 

Cromwell  Lord  Protector.  “  Barebones 

1658  .  . 

Cromwell’s  death. 

1660-1685 

.  . 

Charles  II. 

1660-1667 

. 

Earl  of  Clarendon  chief  minister. 

1661-1665 

The  Clarendon  Code. 

1664-1667 

Second  Dutch  War. 

1665  .  . 

Plague  of  London. 

1666  .  . 

Fire  of  London. 

1667  .  . 

Dutch  fleet  in  Medway  and  Thames. 

1672-1674 

Third  Dutch  War. 

1673  .  . 

Test  Act  passed. 

1673-1676 

Earl  of  Danby  chief  minister. 

1677  .  . 

Princess  Mary  marries  Prince  of  Orange. 

1679  .  . 

Habeas  Corpus  Act. 

1685-1689 

James  H. 

1685  .  . 

Monmouth’s  rebellion. 

1688  .  . 

Second  Declaration  of  Indulgence. 

1688  .  . 

.  • 

Seven  bishops  tried. 

1688,  November 

1689-1702 

William  of  Orange  lands  at  Torbay. 

1  William  III, 

1  and  Mary  II,  to  1694. 

1689  .  . 

Toleration  Act. 

1689  .  . 

Bill  of  Rights. 

1 689  .  . 

Siege  of  Londonderry. 

1690  .  . 

Battle  of  Boyne. 

1692  .  . 

Battle  of  La  Hogue. 

1692  .  . 

Battle  of  Steenkerke. 

1692  .  . 

National  debt  begun. 

1694  .  . 

Bank  of  England  founded. 

1695  .  . 

Freedom  of  press  established. 

1701  .  . 

Act  of  Settlement. 

1702-1714 

Anne. 

1702-1713 

War  of  Spanish  Succession. 

1704  .  . 

Battle  of  Blenheim. 

1704  .  . 

Capture  of  Gibraltar. 

1707  .  . 

Act  of  union  of  England  and  Scotland. 

ENGLAND  UNDER  HANOVERIAN  SOVEREIGNS 

1714-1727  .  .  George  I. 

1715'  ,  .  .  .  First  Jacobite  rebellion,  the  “  Old  Pretender.” 

1711-1720  .  .  South  Sea  Scheme. 

1721-1742  .  .  Walpole  prime  minister;  the  Cabinet. 


IMPORTANT  DATES  IN  ENGLISH  HISTORY  63 


1727-1760  .  . 

George  II. 

00 

7 

War  of  Austrian  Succession. 

1743  .  .  .  . 

Battle  of  Dettingen. 

1745  .  .  .  . 

Battle  of  Fontenoy. 

1745-1746  .  . 

Young  Pretender’s  rebellion. 

1746  .  .  .  . 

Battle  of  Culloden. 

1752  .  .  .  . 

New  style  (calendar)  adopted. 

1756-1763  .  . 

Seven  Years’  War. 

1757-1761  .  . 

William  Pitt  (the  elder)  in  power. 

1760  .  .  .  . 

Conquest  of  Canada. 

1760-1820  .  . 

George  III. 

1763  .  .  .  . 

Peace  of  Paris. 

1764  .  .  .  . 

Hargreave’s  Spinning  Jenny. 

1765  .  .  .  . 

Grenville’s  Stamp  Act. 

1773  .  .  .  . 

“  Boston  Tea  Party.” 

1774  .  .  .  . 

American  Declaration  of  Rights.  Quebec  Act. 

1775  .  .  .  . 

War  of  American  colonists. 

1775  .  .  .  . 

Battle  of  Bunker  Hill. 

1776,  July  4th  . 

American  Declaration  of  Independence. 

1777  .  .  .  . 

Burgoyne’s  surrender  at  Saratoga. 

1778  .  .  .  . 

Death  of  Chatham. 

1781  .  .  .  . 

British  surrender  at  Yorktown. 

-1783  .  .  .  . 

England  acknowledges  independence  of  America. 

1783-1801  .  . 

William  Pitt  minister. 

1788-1795  .  . 

Trial  of  Warren  Hastings. 

1789  .  .  .  . 

French  Revolution. 

1793  .  .  .  . 

War  with  French  Republic. 

1795  .  .  .  . 

Cape  Colony  occupied. 

1798  .  .  .  . 

Irish  rebellion. 

1801  .  .  .  . 

Legislative  Union  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 

1802  .  .  .  . 

Peace  of  Amiens. 

1805,  October  . 

Battle  of  Trafalgar.  Austerlitz. 

1806,  February  . 

Death  of  Pitt. 

1807  .  .  .  . 

Abolition  of  British  slave  trade. 

1812-1814  .  . 

War  with  United  States. 

1814,  December 

Treaty  of  Ghent. 

1815,  June  18  . 

Battle  of  Waterloo. 

1815,  November 

Peace  of  Paris. 

1816  .  .  .  . 

Second  Congress  of  Vienna. 

1820-1830  .  . 

George  IV. 

1828  .  .  .  . 

Corporation  and  Test  Acts  repealed. 

1829  .... 

Catholic  Emancipation  Act  passed. 

1830  .  .  .  . 

Manchester  and  Liverpool  railway. 

634 


APPENDIX  III 


1830-1837 

1832  .  . 

1833  •  • 

1834  .  . 

1835  .  . 

1837-1901 
1837-1848 
1838  .  . 

1846  .  . 

1850  .  . 

1851  .  . 

1854-1856 
1856,  March 

1857  .  . 

1858  .  . 

1867  .  . 

1869  .  . 

1870  .  . 

1870  .  . 

1872  .  . 

1872  .  . 

1874  .  . 

1875  .  . 

1877  .  . 

1878  .  . 

1879  .  . 

1881  .  . 

1882  .  . 

1884-1885 
1884-1885 
1886  .  . 

1887,  June 
1888  .  . 

1893  .  . 

1896  .  . 

1899-1902 
1901-1910 
1902  .  . 

1902  .  . 

1908  .  . 

1909  .  . 

1910  .  . 

1911  .  . 


William  IV. 

First  Reform  Bill. 

Abolition  of  Slavery  in  British  dominions. 

New  Poor  Law. 

Municipal  Reform  Act. 

Victoria. 

Chartists  give  trouble. 

Anti-Corn  Law  League  formed.  “  People’s  Charter.” 
Repeal  of  Corn  Laws. 

Sir  Robert  Peel  died. 

Great  Exhibition  in  Hyde  Park. 

Crimean  War. 

Treaty  of  Paris. 

Sepoy  revolt  in  India. 

Government  of  India  transferred  to  the  Crown. 
Second  Reform  Bill. 

Irish  Church  Act  (Disestablishment). 

Irish  Land  Act. 

Elementary  Education  .\ct. 

Alabama  Claims  Arbitration. 

Ballot  Act. 

Ashantee  War. 

Purchase  of  Suez  Canal  shares. 

Victoria  proclaimed  empress  of  India. 

The  Berlin  Congress  and  Treaty. 

Zulu  and  Afghan  Wars. 

Boer  War. 

Egyptian  War. 

Soudan  War. 

Third  Reform  Act. 

Gladstone’s  Irish  Home  Rule  Bill  rejected. 

Queen’s  Jubilee  celebrated. 

Local  Government  Act. 

Second  Irish  Home  Rule  Bill  rejected  by  the  Lords. 
Jameson’s  Raid  on  the  Transvaal. 

Boer  War. 

Edward  VII. 

Education  Act. 

Boer  Republics  incorporated  with  British  Empire. 

Old  Age  Pensions. 

Union  of  South  Africa.  , 

George  V. 

Veto  Bill;  Salary  of  Members  of  Parliament. 


IMPORTANT  DATES  IN  ENGLISH  HISTORY 


635 


1912  . 

1913  • 
1913  • 


.  .  .  Insurance  Act. 

Third  Irish  Home  Rule  Bill  rejected  by  the  Lords. 
Welsh  Disestablishment  Act  rejected  by  the  Lords. 


The  Victoria  Cross 

Established  in  1857  for  acts  of  bravery  in  battle 


a.  V 


INDEX 


Aberdeen,  Lord,  495,  499,  500. 
“Abhorrers,”  369. 

Act,  Accession  Declaration  (1910),  543. 
Aliens  (1905),  534. 

Attainder,  The  Great  (1689),  392. 

Ballot  (1872),  512. 

Bank  (1844),  497  and  note. 

Conventicle  (1664),  356. 

Corporation  (1661),  356,  479. 

Education  (1870),  511,  512. 
Emancipation  (1833),  484  and  note. 
Employers’  Liability  (1880),  519. 
Exclusion  (1680),  369. 

Explanation  (1665),  359. 

Factory  (1833),  484  and  note. 

Five-Mile  (1665),  356  note,  357. 

Grace  (1690),  392. 

Indemnity  (1660),  354  and  note. 

Irish  Land  (1870),  511;  (1881),  517; 
(1903).  534. 

Irish  Tithe  (1838),  490. 

Licensing  (1874),  513  and  note. 
Licensing  printing  (1695),  400  and  note. 
Municipal  Corporations  (1835),  486  and 
note. 

Mutiny  (1689),  391  and  note. 
Navigation  (1651-1660),  338,  339,  348, 

354 

Occasional  Conformity  (1711),  415,  421. 
Of  Attainder  (1641),  315,  316  and  note. 
Of  Settlement  (1661),  359. 

Quebec  (1774),  442. 

Recoinage  (1696),  401. 

Riot  (1715),  419. 

Schism  (1714),  415,  421. 

Septennial  (1716),  421. 

Settlement  (1701),  406. 

South  African  (1909),  542. 

Stamp,  American  (1765),  441,  443. 
Supremacy  (1559),  254. 

Test  (1673),  366,  479. 

Toleration  (1869),  390. 

Townshend  (1767),  441. 

Uniformity  (1549),  230;  (1552),  231; 

(1559),  254;  (1662),  356. 

Union  (1800),  463,  490. 

Veto  (1911),  538,  544. 

Acts  of  Parliament,  see  also  Statutes  and 
Bills. 

Addled  Parliament,  296. 

Afghanistan,  war  in,  516. 

Africa,  partition  of,  523,  524. 

Africa,  South,  see  South  Africa. 

Agincourt,  Battle  of,  169. 

Agriculture,  Roman  period,  8 ;  before 
1066,  17.  47;  Norman,  95,  96;  15th 
and  16th  centuries,  244,  246,  258; 
17th  century,  380 ;  i8th  century,  452. 
Alabama,  Claims,  The,  509  note,  513. 
Albert,  Prince,  489  and  note,  498,  507,  508. 
Alcuin,  22. 


Alfred  the  Great,  26;  Peace  with  Guth- 
rum,  26,  27;  peaceful  reforms,  28; 
service  to  literature  and  education, 
29 ;  to  religion,  31. 

Aidan,  20. 

Aix-la-Chapelle  (1748),  Peace  of,  431,  433. 

America,  discovery  of  by  Cabots,  194, 
195;  colonies  in,  293.  294,  347,  348; 
war  in  (1754-1763),  436;  Stamp  Act 
(1765),  441,  443;  Revolution  in, 
443-447 ;  Independence  acknowl¬ 
edged,  447;  War  of  1812,  472;  Civil 
War  in,  and  England’s  attitude,  507- 
509. 

Amiens,  Mise  of  (1264),  107. 

Amiens,  Treaty  of  (1802),  465. 

Angevin,  the  first  in  England,  66. 

Angle-land,  13. 

Angles,  on  the  Continent,  12;  give  name 
to  England,  13;  settle  in  England, 
13;  boy  slaves  in  Rome,  18. 

Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle,  31. 

Anglo-Saxons,  31 ;  come  to  Britain,  12-14  ; 
early  kingdoms,  in  Britain,  14-16; 
civilization  of,  16-17. 

“Annates”  (1532),  207. 

Anne  Boleyn,  see  Boleyn,  Anne. 

Anne  Hyde,  daughter  of  Duke  of  York 
(James  II),  367  note. 

Anne  of  Cleves,  217. 

Anne,  Queen,  appearance  and  character, 
408;  relations  with  the  Marlboroughs, 
408-412;  War  of  the  Spani.sh  Succes¬ 
sion,  410-412;  Union  of  Scotland 
and  England  (1707),  413-414. 

Anselm,  Archbishop,  59,  61. 

Anti-corn  League  (1838),  492,  495,  496. 

Arbitration,*  513. 

Architecture,  early,  46;  Norman,  98,  99; 
under  Elizabeth,  283;  17th  century, 
386,  387. 

Argyll,  Marquis  of  (1661),  358  and  note; 
uprising  in  Scotland  under  (1685), 
373,  374,  420. 

Arkwright,  Richard,  450. 

“Armada,  The  Invincible,”  274-276. 

Armenian  Massacres,  523. 

Arms,  Assize  of  (1181),  78. 

Army,  nucleus  of  standing,  36;  under 
Henry  II,  69;  “New  Model,”  326, 
327 

Arthur,  King,  14;  Prince,  85,  86. 

Articles  of  Faith  (or  Religion),  217,  228, 
232  234. 

AvSquith,  Henry  Herbert,  536,  537,  539. 

Assiento,  The  (1713).  413. 

Assize  of  Arms  (1181),  78;  “The  Bloody" 
(1685).  374. 

Association,  Bond  of,  268,  270. 

Athling,  48. 

Attainder,  Bill  of,  316  note. 


637 


638 


INDEX 


Augustine  introduces  Christianity  into 
Britain,  18,  19 ;  made  Archbishop, 
19. 

Australia,  504. 

Austrian  Succession,  War  of,  429. 
Babington  Plot,  269. 

Bacon,  Francis,  impeachment  of,  296,  297. 
Bacon,  Roger,  112. 

Balaklava,  Battle  of,  501  note. 

“Balance  of  Power,”  502. 

Balfour,  Arthur  J.,  523,  533,  535. 

Ball,  John,  152. 

Balliol,  John.  121,  134. 

Bank  Act  (1844),  497  and  note. 

Bank  of  England,  established,  398;  497. 
Bannerman,  see  (jampbell-Bannerman. 
Bannockburn,  Battle  of,  130. 

Baptists,  356  note. 

“Barebones”  Parliament,  340,  341. 
Barnet,  Battle  of,  179. 

Barons,  Norman,  under  William  I,  54, 
56;  do  homage  to  William  I,  56,  57; 
revolt  under  William  II.  59;  Henry 
I  grants  charter  to,  60;  Stephen’s 
trouble  wuth,  64;  Henry  II  and,  69, 
75,  76;  revolt  under  John,  88,  90, 
91 ;  get  Magna  Carta,  89  ;  wars  under 
Henry  III,  106,  107,  108. 

Bayeux  Tapestry,  41  note. 

Beachy  Head,  Battle  of,  396. 

Beaufort,  Lady  Margaret,  180. 

Becket,  Thomas,  68,  70-73 :  murder  of, 
74;  shrine  destroyed,  212. 

Bede,  Venerable,  22. 

“Benevolences,”  180,  181,  296,  300. 

Berlin  Congress  (1878),  516. 

Berlin  Decree,  469. 

Berwick,  Treaty  of  (1639),  313. 

Bible,  Wycliffe’s,  156,  157;  Coverdale’s, 
215;  Tyndale’s,  215,  216;  James  I, 
“Authorized  Version,”  290,  388. 

Bill.  Boston  Port  (1774),  442. 

Catholic  Emancipation  (1829),  479. 
Defined,  316  note. 

Education  (1902),  534  and  note,  536. 
Excise  (1733),  425. 

Finance  (1909),  536-537. 

Franchise  (1884),  519  and  note. 

Internal  Revenue  (1733),  425. 

Irish  Home  Rule  (1885,  1893),  520,  521 ; 

(1912-1913).  544. 

Licensing  (1872),  513. 

Militia  (1642),  320. 

Minimum  Wage  (1912),  542. 

Money,  538  and  note. 

National  Insurance  (1912),  539. 

Of  Attainder  (1641),  315. 

Old  Age  Pension  (1908),  536. 

Parliament  (1910),  538  and  note,  539. 
Redistribution  (1885),  519  and  note. 
Reform  (1832),  482  and  note,  484,  492; 

(1867),  510. 

Rights  (1689),  390. 

“Root  and  Branch”  (1641),  317. 

Royal  Titles  (1876),  515. 

Triennial  (1641),  316;  (1664),  355; 

(1694),  398. 

Bills  of  Parliament,  see  also  Statutes  and 
Black  Death,  141. 


“Black  Hole  of  Calcutta,' The,”  436. 

Black  Prince,  139  and  note,  142-146. 

Blake,  Robert,  339,  347. 

Blenheim,  Battle  of,  411, 

“  Bloody  Assize”  (1685),  374, 

Boers,  506,  516,  517,  525-528. 

Boer  War,  527,  528,  530. 

Boleyn,  Anne,  207,  214. 

Bolingbroke,  Viscount,  414,  415,  419  and 
note,  420  and  note,  427. 

Bonaparte,  see  Napoleon  Bonaparte. 

Bookland,  47,  48. 

“Book  of  Sports,”  309. 

Boroughs,  “pocket,”  481  note,  483; 
“rotten,”  481  note,  483. 

“Boston  Massacre,”  441. 

Boston  Port  Bill  (1774),  442. 

Bosworth  Field,  Battle  of,  182,  183. 

Bouvines,  Battle  of,  88. 

Boxer  Insurrection,  China,  529,  530. 

Boycotting,  518  and  note. 

Boyne,  Battle  of  the,  393. 

Braddock’s  defeat,  436. 

Breda,  Declaration  of  (1660),  351,  353. 

Br^tigny,  Treaty  of  (1360),  143. 

Bright,  John,  492,  496,  507  note. 

Britain,  early  inhabitants,  2;  Roman  con¬ 
quest  of,  5;  Roman  occupation,  6, 
7,  8,  10;  Roman  rule  in,  6,  7,  8,  1(); 
withdrawal  of  Romans,  10;  Teutonic 
conquest  of,  12-17;  Introduction 
of  Christianity,  17,  18,  19,  20. 

British  Isles,  area,  1 ;  physical  charac¬ 
teristics,  1. 

Britons,  ancient,  2,  3,  4. 

Brownists,  277. 

Bruce,  Robert,  128,  130,  134. 

Buckingham,  Duke  of  (George  Villiers), 
295,  298,  300,  302. 

“Budget,”  meaning  of,  536  note;  (1909), 
536-538. 

Bunyan,  John,  356,  357. 

Burghley,  Lord,  Sir  William  Cecil,  253, 
256,  258. 

Burgoyne’s  defeat,  444. 

Burke,  Edmund,  442,  446,  457-459. 

Bute,  Earl  of,  439. 

Cabal  Ministry  (1667),  363,  364. 

(Cabinet,  beginnings  of,  363,  364;  under 
George  I,  418;  the  real  power,  488, 
489. 

Cabots,  the,  discover  America,  194,  195. 

Cade’s  Rebellion  (1450).  174,  175. 

CabssLT,  Julius,  invades  Britain,  5. 

Calais  taken  by  England,  139;  lost,  240, 
241,  258. 

Calendar,  reform  in,  432. 

Cambridge.  101,  102,  194,  512. 

Campbell-Bannerman,  Sir  Henry,  535, 
536  and  note. 

Camperdowm,  Battle  of,  460. 

Canada,  490,  491,  505  and  note. 

Canals,  451. 

Canning,  George,  476-478  and  note. 

Cannon  first  used,  140  note. 

Canterbury,  mother  of  the  English  church, 
19. 

Canute,  see  Cnut. 

Cape  of  Good  Hope  taken  from  the  Dutch, 
460,  474. 


INDEX 


639 


Cape  St.  Vincent,  Battle  of,  460. 

Caroline,  Queen,  not  crowned,  476. 

Cartwright,  John,  450. 

Cartwright,  Thomas,  276. 

“Casket  Letters,”  263  note. 

Castles,  Tower  of  London,  54 ;  built  in 
Norman  Britain,  98;  of  Edward  I, 
in  Wales,  120. 

Catherine  of  Aragon,  193,  195,  202-204, 
207. 

Catherine  Howard,  218. 

Catherine  Parr,  218. 

Catholic  Emancipation  Bill  (1829),  479. 

Catholic  Relief  Bill  (1793),  462,  469. 

Catholics,  see  Church,  Catholic. 

Cavalier  Parliament,  354. 

Cavaliers  and  Roundheads,  324. 

Cavendish,  Lord  Frederick,  518. 

Caxton’s  Press,  185. 

Cecil,  Sir  Robert,  280,  289,  294. 

Cecil,  Sir  William  (Lord  Burghley),  253, 
256,  258. 

Celtic  Christianity,  19. 

Celts,  2,  3,  4. 

Ceylon,  taken  from  the  Dutch,  460,  474. 

Chad,  St.,  20. 

Chamberlain,  Joseph,  527,  535. 

Charlemagne,  see  Charles  the  Great. 

Charles  I,  character  of,  299;  belief  in 
divine  right  of  kings,  299 ;  marries 
Henrietta  Maria,  299;  struggle  of, 
with  Parliament,  299-305;  grants 
“Petition  of  Right,”  301,  302;  per¬ 
sonal  rule  of,  305;  angers  Scottish 
church,  312;  summons  Parliament, 
313;  summons  “Long  Parliament,” 
314;  trial  of  Strafford,  314-316; 
Grand  Remonstrance,  317;  attempts 
arrest  of  five  members,  318;  Militia 
Bill,  320;  civil  war  begins,  321; 
turns  to  the  Scots,  327 ;  taken  pris¬ 
oner,  329 ;  trial  and  execution  of, 
331,  332. 

Charles  II,  proclaimed  in  Ireland,  334; 
defeated  at  Worcester,  336,  337 ; 
lands  at  Dover,  352 ;  character  of, 
353;  War  wdth  Holland,  300,  361; 
Cabal  ministry,  363,  364 ;  Treaty  of 
Dover,  364,  365;  “Popish  Plot,” 
368,  369;  personal  rule,  371. 

Charles  Edward,  The  Young  Pretender, 
429-431  and  note. 

Charles  the  Great,  22. 

Charlotte,  Princess,  476. 

Charters,  Henrv  I,  to  the  barons  (1100), 
60;  Stephen  (1136),  63.  64;  John 
and  the  Great  Charter  (1215),  89,  90; 
Great  Charter  revised,  92 ;  con¬ 
firmed.  104,  105;  Provisions  of  Ox¬ 
ford  (1258),  107;  Edward  I.  Confir- 
matio  Cartarum  (1297),  124,  125; 
“People’s  Charter”  (1838),  491,  492. 

Chartism,  491,  492. 

Chartists,  492,  498. 

Chatham,  Earl  of,  see  Pitt. 

Chaucer,  Geoffrey,  148,  149,  150,  155. 

Child  Labor,  2.50,  456,  484,  note. 

China,  war  with  (opium  war),  494.  495; 
Boxer  Insurrection,  529;  “open 
door,”  529;  “Boxer  Rising,”  530. 

Chivalry,  94,  140. 


Christianity  introduced  into  Roman 
Britain,  17-19;  coming  of  Augustine, 
18;  Celtic,  19,  20;  council  of  Whitby, 
20;  influence  of  church,  20;  church 
organized,  21. 

Chronicle^  Anglo-Saxon,  31. 

Church,  Catholic,  Augustine  founds,  18, 
19 ;  council  of  Whitby,  20 ;  growth 
into  national,  20,  56;  monasticism 
and  monasteries,  50,  51,  100,  209-213; 
William  I  establishes  church  courts, 
56;  William  II  quarrels  with,  59; 
Henry  I  and,  61;  Henry  II  and,  70; 
Constitutions  of  Clarendon,  71,  72; 
the  Crusades,  79,  82;  John  and  the 
chmch,  86,  87 ;  Magna  Carta  and, 
90;  Wycliffe  and,  155-157;  the 
Lollards  and,  157,  163,  167,  168; 
Henry  VIII  breaks  with  Rome,  208; 
Henry  VIII  head  of  the  church,  206; 
Henry  VIII  destroys  monasteries, 
210-213;  Edw’ard  VI  prayer  books, 
230,  231 ;  Mary  reestablishes  Catho¬ 
lic,  239 ;  persecution  under  Mary, 
239-241. 

Church,  English,  Act  of  Uniformity  (1559), 
254;  Elizabeth  breaks  with  Rome, 
254,  255;  Puritans,  255;  Elizabeth 
persecutes  Catholics,  266;  “Author¬ 
ized  Version”  of  the  Bible,  290; 
Presbyterianism  in  England,  326; 
Act  of  Uniformity  (1662), ^356 ;  James 
II  and,  372,  376;  Revolution  of, 
1688,  389,  390;  Toleration  Act 

(1689),  390;  Irish,  disestablished.  511 ; 
Welsh  Disestablishment  Bill  rejected 
by  Lords,  545. 

Circulation  of  the  blood  discovered,  388. 

Cities  and  towns,  46,  97,  247,  371,  380, 
381 

Civil  War  (1642-1649).  321-333. 

Clarendon,  Constitutions  of  (1164),  71,  72. 

Clarendon  Code  (1661-1665),  355-358, 
371. 

Clarendon,  Earl  of,  362,  363. 

Clarkson,  Thomas,  454. 

Ciaverhouse,  Viscount  of  Dundee,  395. 

Clive,  Robert,  434  and  note,  436. 

Cnut,  34-37. 

Cobden,  Richard,  492,  496,  507  note. 

Coffeehouses,  382,  385  and  note. 

Coinage,  debased  b3'  Henrj-  VIII,  222, 
246-247 ;  reformed  under  Elizabeth, 
258;  Recoinage  Act  (1696),  401. 

Colet,  John,  194. 

Colonies,  in  Ireland  (1611),  293:  in  Amer¬ 
ica,  293,  294 ;  Cromwell’s  policy 
towards,  347 ;  established  by  Charles 
II,  361;  Colonial  expansion,  504; 
legislative  and  economic  independ¬ 
ence,  50,5 ;  general  policy  towards, 
504,  505;  West  Indian,  505. 

Columba,  20. 

Commerce,  see  Trade  and  Commerce. 

Commonwealth,  the,  333-351. 

Compurgation,  ,50. 

Confirinatio  Cartarum  (1297),  124,  125. 

Conservative  Party,  489  note,  509,  514, 
516. 

Constitutions  of  Clarendon  (1164),  71,  72. 

Continental  System,  469. 


640 


INDEX 


Convention  Parliament,  351,  352. 

Copenhagen,  Battle  of,  461. 

Corn  Laws,  452 ;  Anti-corn  Law  League, 
492;  laws  repealed,  496  and  note. 

Coronation  chair,  126;  oath,  sec  Acces¬ 
sion  Declaration  Act. 

Council,  The  Great,  103 ;  of  the  North, 
307 ;  of  Wales,  307  note. 

Counter-Reformation,  266. 

County  councils  (Local  Government  Bill) 
521. 

Courts,  Ecclesiastical,  56,  70;  Curia 

Regis,  68  note;  Henry  II,  78;  Mano¬ 
rial,  95 :  under  Normans,  103 ; 
Edward  I,  115;  of  High  Commission, 
307 ;  of  Star  Chamber,  307,  308. 

Covenant,  the  Scottish,  312,  336. 

Covenant,  The  Solemn  League  and,  325, 
326. 

Covenanters,  359,  370. 

Coverdale’s  Bible,  215. 

Craft  gilds,  247. 

Cranmer,  Archbishop,  204,  207,  223,  234, 
239  240 

Cr6cy,  Battle  of,  139. 

Crimean  War,  494,  500-502,  513. 

Criminal  laws  revised,  477. 

Cromer,  Lord,  529. 

Crompton,  Samuel,  450. 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  314,  324;  appearance 
and  character  of,  342,  343;  organized 
army,  326,  327 ;  rises  to  be  leader,  326 ; 
in  Ireland,  334,  335;  in  Scotland,  336; 
dissolves  “The  Rump,”  340;  made 
Protector,  342;  religious  policy,  345; 
foreign  policy,  346;  colonization 
schemes,  348;  death  of,  349. 

Cromwell,  Richard,  350. 

Cromwell,  Thomas,  204,  206,  209-211, 
217;  fall  of.  218;  work  of.  218. 

Crosses,  Queen  Eleanor’s,  122. 

Crusades,  79,  82. 

Culloden  Moor,  Battle  of,  430. 

Curia  Regis,  68  note. 

Cuthbert,  20. 

Cyprus,  516. 

Danby,  Thomas  Osborne,  Earl  of,  367- 
369,  372. 

Danegeld,  34. 

Danelaw,  28. 

Danes,  invade  England,  24,  25;  Alfred 
and.  26,  28;  Danelaw,  28;  Treaty  of 
Wedmore,  28 ;  Swegen  conquers 
England,  35;  Cnut,  35—37. 

Darien  Scheme,  401,  402. 

Darnley,  Lord,  262,  263. 

Debt,  beginning  of  National,  398. 

Declaration  of  Breda  (1660),  351,  353; 
of  Indulgence  (1672),  366;  (1687- 

1688),  375,  376;  of  Rights  (1689), 
379  and  note. 

Deists,  453. 

Despensers,  father  and  son,  130-132. 

Dictum  of  Kenilworth  (1266),  111. 

Disraeli,  Benjamin  (Lord  Beaconsfield), 
499,  5Q4,  507  note,  510,  511,  514-516 
and  note. 

Dissenters,  356,  366,  371,  375,  376,  391 
and  note,  421  and  note,  424,  453,  519, 
534  note;  see  aiso  Non-conformists. 


Divine  right  of  kings,  290,  299,  406. 

Domesday  Book,  57. 

Dover,  Treaty  of  (1670),  364. 

Drake,  Francis,  271-276. 

Dress,  styles  of,  45,  46,  94,  282,  384,  454, 
455. 

Drogheda,  Battle  of,  335  and  note. 

Druids,  3,  4,  10. 

Dudley,  Earl  of  Leicester,  279. 

Dueling,  455. 

Dunbar,  Battle  of,  336. 

Dunkirk,  347,  360. 

Dunstan,  33,  51. 

Duquesne,  Fort,  436,  438. 

Durbar  at  Delhi  (1912),  543. 

Durham,  Lord,  490. 

Dutch,  control  carrying  trade,  338;  Navi¬ 
gation  Act  (1651),  against  338,  339; 
war  with  (1652-1654),  339;  New 
Netherland  captured,  360,  361 ;  war 
with  (1664-1667),  360,  361;  London 
blockaded,  361 ;  plot  against,  364, 
365;  war  with  (1672),  365;  Wil¬ 
liam  of  Orange  becomes  King  of 
England,  379. 

Duties,  Walpole  reduces,  425;  reforms 
in  (1842),  495,  496;  reduction  in, 
478;  see  Corn  Laws. 

Earl,  48  note,  49,  50. 

East  India  Companv,  293,  294,  360,  433, 
447,  485,  494,  504. 

Edgar  the  Peaceful,  33. 

Edgehill,  Battle  of,  325. 

Edinburgh  (Edwinsburgh),  22. 

Edington,  Battle  of,  28. 

Edmund  Ironside,  35. 

Education,  Anglo-Saxon,  21-23,  30,  31; 
Norman,  101,  102;  universities 

founded,  101,  102;  Renaissance  in 
England,  193,  194;  Henry  VIII 

Grammar  Schools,  212;  Edward  VI 
Grammar  Schools,  228  note ;  in  15th 
and  16th  centuries,  251 ;  under  Eliza¬ 
beth,  284,  285;  in  17th  century,  385, 
386 ;  Elementary  Education  Act 
(1870),  511,  512,  534;  religious  tests 
abolished  at  universities,  512;  Edu¬ 
cation  Bill  (1902),  534  and  note,  536. 

Edward,  son  of  Alfred,  33;  son  of  Edgar, 
34;  the  Confessor,  37;  The  Black 
Prince,  139,  142-146. 

Edward  I,  character  of,  114;  important 
laws,  114-117;  and  the  Jews,  117, 
118;  conquers  Wales,  119,  120;  and 
Scotland,  120,  125-128;  confirms 

the  charters,  124,  125  and  note; 
death  of,  128. 

Edward  II,  character  of,  128,  129;  his  fa¬ 
vorites,  129,  130;  defeated  at  Ban¬ 
nockburn,  130;  abdicates  and  is 
murdered,  132. 

Edward  III,  133;  character  of,  134; 
Scottish  war,  134,  140;  and  the 
Flemings,  136;  Hundred  Years’ 
War  begins,  137 ;  Battle  of  Cr^cy,  139 ; 
takes  Calais,  139,  140;  the  “Black 
Prince,”  139  and  note,  142-146;  The 
Black  Death,  141 ;  Battle  of  Poitiers, 
142;  Treaty  of  Br^tigny,  143;  last 
years  of  and  death,  146,  147;  growth 


INDEX 


641 


of  English  language  and  literature 
under,  148-150. 

Edward  IV,  character  of,  181 ;  Wars  of  the 
Roses,  178-181;  system  of  “benevo¬ 
lences,”  180,  181;  printing  intro¬ 
duced,  185. 

Edward  V,  181 ;  Gloucester  Protector, 
182;  murdered  in  the  Tower,  182. 

Edward  VI,  character  of,  227;  Grammar 
Schools  founded,  228  note,  First 
Prayer  Book,  230 ;  Second  Prayer 
Book,  231. 

Edward  VII,  character  of,  533;  Educa¬ 
tion  Bill  (1902),  534;  Labor  Party, 
536  and  note,  Budget  (1909),  536- 
538;  “New  Domesday  Book,”  537; 
w’oman  suffrage,  540,  541;  strikes 
(1912),  541,  542. 

Egbert,  Union  under,  23;  dies,  26. 

Egypt,  519,  520,  533. 

Eleanor,  wife  of  Edward  I,  111,  122. 

Eliot,  Sir  John,  300,  304,  305. 

Elizabeth,  Princess,  daughter  of  Henry 
VIII,  208;  imprisoned  by  Mary  I, 
237,  238. 

Elizabeth,  Queen,  252;  appearance  and 
character  of,  252,  253;  Act  of  Su¬ 
premacy  (1559),  254;  Act  of  Uniform¬ 
ity  (1559),  254;  domestic  problems 
confronting,  254;  foreign  relations, 
255,  256;  and  the  Marriage  Ques¬ 
tion,  256,  257 ;  general  policy  of, 
258;  Poor  Laws,  258,  259;  Scotland 
and,  259,  260;  excommunicated, 

265,  266;  plots  against,  265-270; 
Bond  of  Association,  268,  270;  and 
Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  269,  270;  de¬ 
struction  of  the  Armada,  274-276 ; 
and  Ireland,  277,  278;  literature 
under,  279,  280;  abolishes  “mo¬ 
nopolies,”  281 ;  prosperity  of  England 
under,  282;  Royal  Progresses,  284; 
death  of,  281. 

Emancipation  Act  (1833),  484  and  note. 

Emma,  mother  of  Edward  the  Confessor, 
35  37. 

Emmet,  Robert,  467. 

Enclosures,  174;  see  afso  Land. 

England,  origin  of  name,  13;  introduc¬ 
tion  of  Christianity,  17-20;  con¬ 
quered  by  the  Normans,  40-42. 

English  or  Angles  come  to  Britain,  12,  13. 

Eorl  or  Eoldorman,  48. 

Erasmus,  194,  216. 

Essex,  Earl  of,  279;  3d  Earl,  324. 

Ethclbert,  King  of  Kent,  17. 

Ethelflaed,  Lady  of  Mercia,  33. 

Ethelred  the  Unready,  34,  35. 

Eugene,  Prince  of  Savoy,  411  and  note. 

Evesham,  Battle  of,  110,  111. 

Excise  Bill,  425. 

Fairfax,  329,  336,  350,  351. 

Falaise,  Treaty  of  (1174),  77,  78. 

Falkirk,  Battle  of,  126. 

Famine,  Irish  (1845-1846),  496,  497. 

Famous  Parliament  of  1265,  110. 

Farms  and  farming,  see  Agriculture. 

Fawkes,  Guy,  291,  292. 

Fenians,  510. 

Fenwick’s  Plot,  400. 


Feudalism,  William  I  and,  56,  57;  under 
Henry  II,  69;  in  the  Great  Charter, 
90;  and  statute  of  Quia  Emptores, 
117;  disappearing,  187. 

Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold,  198,  199. 

Fire,  The  Great,  362. 

Fisher,  Bishop,  execution  of,  208. 

Flanders  and  w’ool  trade,  136. 

Flodden  Field,  Battle  of,  196. 

Folkland,  47,  48. 

Forests,  47,  58;  under  Charles  I,  311,  312. 

Forster,  William  Edward,  512. 

Fosse  Way,  7. 

Fox,  Charles  James,  446, 447, 457,  458,  468. 

France,  Henry  IPs  possessions  in,  68;  and 
Edw'ard  I,  122;  alliance,  with  Scot¬ 
land,  125,  134;  Edward  III  claims 
crown  of,  136;  and  Hundred  Years’ 
War,  137,  144;  Calais  taken  by  Eng¬ 
land,  139;  Treaty  of  Br^tigny,  143; 
and  Henry  V,  168-170;  Joan  of  Arc, 
171,172;  Hundred  Years’  War,  end  of, 
173;  and  Henry  VIII,  222;  Calais 
lost,  240,  241,  258;  Cromwell 

gets  Dunkirk,  347;  Charles  II, 
secret  treaty  with,  364,  365;  Peace 
of  Ryswick,  397;  Alliance  with 
America,  444;  The  Revolution,  458, 
459;  w’ar  with  England  (1793), 
459;  Battle  of  Waterloo,  473. 

French,  Revolution,  The,  458,  459. 

Friars  ^lendicant,  112. 

Gaels,  2. 

“Gag  Laws,”  476. 

Gardiner,  Bishop,  223,  234,  238,  239,  241. 

Gaunt,  John  of,  147,  153,  161. 

Gaveston,  Piers,  129. 

George,  Prince  of  Denmark,  408. 

George  I,  character,  415,  416,  417 ;  and  the 
Whigs,  417-419;  Scottish  Rising, 
(1715),  419,  420;  Septennial  Act 
(1716),  421;  South  Sea  Scheme, 
421-423;  Walpole,  prime  minister, 
423. 

George  II,  character  of,  426;  war  of 
Jenkins’s  Ear,  428  and  note;  War 
of  the  Austrian  Succession,  429; 
Young  Pretender,  429—431  and  note; 
change  in  Calendar,  432;  war  in 
India,  and  “Black  Hole,”  436;  w’ar 
in  America,  436;  Seven  Years’  War, 
437. 

George  III,  character  of,  438;  war  with 
American  Colonies,  443—447;  “In¬ 
dustrial  Revolution,”  450,  455,  456, 
475;  impeachment  of  Warren  Ha.st- 
ings,  457 ;  Union  of  Ireland  and 
Great  Britain  (1800),  463—465;  slave 
trade  abolished,  469 ;  war  w’ith 
America  (1812),  472;  Battle  of  Water¬ 
loo  (1815),  473;  becomes  perma¬ 
nently  insane,  475. 

George  IV,  regency  of,  475,  coronation  of, 
476;  Manchester  Meeting  (1819), 
475;  Queen  Caroline,  476;  “Six 
Acts,”  476;  police  force  reformed,  477 ; 
repeal  of  Corporation  Act  (1828), 
479;  repeal  of  Test  Act  (1828),  479; 
Catholics,  admitted  to  Parliament, 
479. 


642 


INDEX 


George  V,  539,  543;  marries  Princess 
Mar>'  of  Teck,  543  and  note ;  woman 
suffrage,  540,  541;  strikes  (1910- 
1912),  541,  542;  the  Durbar,  543. 

George,  David  Lloyd,  536,  537,  540. 

Ghent,  Treaty  of  (1814),  472. 

Gibraltar,  411,  447. 

Gilbert,  Sir  Humphrey,  285. 

Gilds.  98,  247. 

Gladstone,  W.  E.,  485  and  note,  495,  500, 
504,  507  note,  509-511,  514,  516, 
520-522  and  note. 

Glencoe,  Massacre  of,  395,  396. 

Glendower,  Owen,  revolt  of  under  Henrj’ 
IV,  164. 

Godwin,  37. 

Goidels,  2. 

Good  Parliament,  146,  147. 

Gordon,  General  Charles,  519,  520  and 
note. 

Gordon,  Lord  George.  Riots,  454. 

Grand  Alliance  (1702),  407. 

Grand  Remonstrance,  the  (1641),  317. 

Grattan,  Henry,  445,  462. 

(Gregory  and  the  English  slaves,  17,  18. 

Grenville,  George,  440. 

Grey,  Earl,  482  and  note. 

Grey,  Ladj"  Jane,  232,  233,  237. 

Grosseteste,  Adam  Robert,  112. 

Gunpowder  Plot,  The,  291,  292. 

Guthrum,  26. 

Habeas  Corpus,  301  and  note,  suspended, 
475;  Act  (1679),  369  and  note,  375. 

Halidon  Hill,  Battle  of,  134. 

Hampden,  John,  and  “Ship  Money,”  311. 

Hampton  Court  Conference  (1604),  290. 

Hargreaves,  James,  450. 

Harold,  son  of  Cnut,  37. 

Harold  II,  last  Saxon  king,  38;  killed 
at  Battle  of  Hastings,  40. 

Harthacnut,  37. 

Hastings,  Battle  of  (1066),  40. 

Hastings,  Warren,  457  and  note. 

“Heads  of  Proposals”  (1647),  329. 

Heligoland,  469  and  note,  474  and  note. 

Hengist  and  Horsa,  12. 

Henrietta  Maria,  299,  303,  319. 

Henry  I,  60;  character  of,  63;  grants 
charter  to  barons,  60;  and  Robert, 
61;  “The  White  Ship,”  61,  62;  and 
France,  61,  62;  achievements,  63. 

Henrj'  II,  character  of,  66;  castles  de¬ 
molished,  66,  69;  reforms  of,  69,  78; 
and  the  church,  70;  quarrel  with 
Becket,  70-74 ;  Constitutions  of 
Clarendon,  71,  72 ;  murder  of  Becket, 
74;  and  Ireland,  74,  75;  and  the 
Barons,  75;  achievements,  80. 

Henry  III,  character  of,  104;  confirms 
Great  Charter,  104;  trouble  with 
barons.  106-111;  Provisions  of  Ox¬ 
ford,  107;  Barons’  War,  107;  and 
de  Montfort,  10^111. 

Henr>’  IV,  accession  of,  161,  162;  charac¬ 
ter  of.  163 ;  tries  to  suppress  the 
Lollards,  163;  revolt  under  Glen¬ 
dower,  164 ;  revolt  of  the  Percys,  164 ; 
Battle  of  Shrew8bur>’,  164. 

Henrj*  V,  character  of,  166;  and  the  Lol¬ 
lards.  167,  168;  war  with  France, 


168-170;  Battle  of  Agincourt,  169; 
Treaty  of  Troyes,  169. 

Henry  VI,  170;  character  of,  173;  Joan 
of  Arc  saves  France,  171;  Cade’s 
Rebellion,  174,  175;  Wars  of  the 
Roses,  176-184;  deposed,  178. 

Henry  VII,  183;  character  of,  187;  union 
of  York  and  Lancaster,  183 ;  methods 
of  raising  money,  192;  and  Foreign 
Affairs,  193 ;  Renaissance  in  England, 
193,  194;  America  discovered,  195. 

Henry  VIII,  character  of,  195,  224,  225; 
marries  Catharine  of  Aragon,  195; 
and  Wolsey,  196-204;  victory  at 
Flodden  Field,  196;  The  Field  of  the 
Cloth  of  Gold,  198,  199;  tries  to  di¬ 
vorce  Catharine,  202-207 ;  marries 
Anne  Bolejm,  207 ;  breaks  with  Rome, 
205,  208;  Act  of  Supremacy  (1534), 
208;  destroys  monasteries,  210-213; 
beheads  Anne  Boleyn,  214;  marries 
Jane  Seymour,  214;  marries  Anne  of 
Cleves,  217;  later  marriages,  218; 
relations  with  Ireland,  219,  220;  re¬ 
lations  with  Scotland,  221;  debases 
coinage,  222;  relations  with  France, 
222. 

Hereward  the  Wake,  53. 

High  Church  Party,  Rise  of,  370. 

High  Commission,  Court  of,  307. 

Hill,  Rowland,  493. 

Holland,  war  with  (1652),  339. 

Holland,  see  also  Dutch. 

Holy  Alliance  (1815),  478,  480. 

HoijTood  Palace,  262. 

Hooper,  Bishop,  240. 

Hotham,  Sir  John,  321. 

Hotspur,  164. 

House  of  Commons,  gains  share  in  legis¬ 
lation  (1322),  131;  first  case  of  im¬ 
peachment,  146;  grows  in  impor¬ 
tance,  148;  see  Parliament. 

House  of  Lords,  Abbots,  removed  from, 
213;  abolished  (1649),  333;  restored 
(1660),  351;  no  power  to  reject 
money  bills,  537  note;  Parliament 
Bill,  (1911)  (A^eto),  539;  see  Parlia¬ 
ment. 

Howard,  John,  454. 

Howard,  Lord,  Admiral,  275. 

Hubert  de  Burgh,  105. 

“Humble  Petition  and  Advice”  (1657), 
349. 

Hundreds,  50. 

Hundred  Years’  War,  133,  173. 

Huskisson,  William,  476-478. 

Hyde,  Edward,  see  Clarendon,  Earl  of. 

Impeachment,  146;  defined,  316  note, 
318  note;  of  Lord  Bacon.  296;  of 
Strafford,  314-316;  of  Warren  Hast¬ 
ings,  457. 

Impressment  of  American  sailors,  472. 

Independents,  277,  328,  332,  336,  356  note. 

India,  Clive  in,  434—436;  Fox’s  Bill,  447, 
448;  Pitt’s  Bill,  457;  Warren  Hast¬ 
ings  and,  457;  Mutiny  (1857-1858), 
502-504;  Victoria,  Empress  of,  515 
and  note. 

India,  East,  Company,  see  East  India 
(Company. 


INDEX 


643 


Indulgence,  Declarations  of,  see  Declara¬ 
tions  of  Indulgence. 

Industrial  Revolution,  450;  eflfects  of, 
455,  456,  475. 

Industry,  see  Manufacture. 

"Instrument  of  Government"  (1653),  342. 

Interdict  (defined),  83  note;  of  1208,  87. 

Inventions,  great,  450,  531. 

Ionian  Isles,  474  and  note. 

Ireland,  account  of  early,  74,  75;  at¬ 
tempted  conquest  bv  Henry  II,  74, 
75;  Statute  of  Kilkennj^  (1367),  150; 
the  Pale,  150,  190;  Irish  Parliament, 
190;  Poynings’  Act  (1494),  190,  446; 
under  Henry  VIII,  219-221 ;  rebellion 
under  Fitzgerald  (1533),  220;  Queen 
Elizabeth  and,  277-278;  colonized  by 
James  I,  293;  Wentworth  in,  309, 
310;  Cromwell  in,  335,  336 ;  Restora¬ 
tion  in,  359 ;  independence  of,  pro¬ 
claimed,  392;  James  II,  lands  in, 
(1689),  392;  "The  Great  Act  of 
Attainder"  (1689),  392;  Siege  of 
Londonderry,  392 ;  intolerance  to¬ 
wards  Catholics,  393,  394 ;  exports 
of  cloth,  prohibited,  394 ;  Land 
Grants  (1699,  1700),  402,  403;  trade 
crushed  (1706),  414;  Irish  Parlia¬ 
ment  (1782),  445,  462;  "United 

Irishmen,"  462;  Orangemen,  462; 
rebellion  (1798),  463;  union  with 
Great  Britain  (1800),  463-465; 

Irish  Parliament  abolished  (1801), 
464;  rebellion  under  Emmet,  407 ; 
Reform  Bill  (1832),  483;  Coercion 
Act  (1833),  485;  demands  repeal  of 
Act  of  Union,  490^  famine  (1845- 
1846),  496,  497;  disestablishment  of 
Episcopal  church  in,  511;  Land 
League  (1879),  517  ;  Land  Act  (1881), 
517;  Home  Rule  (1885,  1893),  520, 
521;  Irish  Land  Act  (1903),  534; 
Irish  Home  Rule  (1912),  passed 
House  of  Commons,  544. 

Ireton,  329. 

Irish  church  disestablished,  511. 

Irish  Tithe  Act  (1838),  490  and  note. 

Jacobites,  meaning  of  name,  397  note, 
419,  430. 

James  I  of  Scotland,  164. 

James  I,  born,  262 ;  character  of,  288,  289 ; 
accession  of,  289;  Millenary  Petition 
(1603),  289,  290;  Hampton  Court 
Conference  (1604),  290;  proclaims 
divine  right  of  kings,  290;  attitude 
towards  religion,  290,  291;  foreign 
policy,  292;  colonizes  America,  293, 
294 ;  colonizes  Ireland,  293 ;  and  fa¬ 
vorites,  294,  295;  attitude  towards 
Catholics,  295;  proposes  Spanish  , 
marriages,  295,  298;  conflict  with 
Parliament,  297,  298. 

James  II,  character  of,  372,  373;  Efforts 
to  restore  Catholicism,  373,  375,  376; 
"Bloody  Assize”  (1685),  374,  375; 
Monmouth’s  Rebellion,  374,  375; 
Declarations  of  Indulgence,  375,  376; 
birth  of  a  son,  376;  "The  Seven 
Bishops,"  376;  William  of  Orange 
invited  to  England,  377 ;  flight  of, 


378;  Revolution  of  1688,  379;  in 
Ireland,  392;  siege  of  Londonderry, 
392;  Battle  of  the  Boyne,  393;  flees 
to  France,  393. 

James,  Duke  of  York,  366;  marries  Mary 
of  Modena,  367 ;  and  Exclusion  Act, 
369. 

James,  The  Old  Pretender,  407,  419,  420. 

Jameson’s  Raid,  526  and  note. 

Jane  Grey,  Lady,  232,  233,  237. 

Jane  Seymour,  214,  215. 

Japan,  529;  treaty  with,  533,  544. 

Jeffreys,  Judge,  372  and  note,  374. 

Jenkins’s  Ear,  War  of,  428. 

Jennings,  Sarah,  Duchess  of  Marlborough, 
408,409,414. 

Jesuits  come  to  England,  267. 

Jewries,  117. 

Jews,  117-119;  expulsion  of,  by  Edward 
I,  118-119;  Cromwell’s  policy  to¬ 
wards,  345;  admitted  to  Parliament, 
479  note. 

Joan  of  Arc,  171,  172. 

John,  character,  85;  murder  of  Prince 
Arthur,  85,  86;  loses  French  posses¬ 
sions,  86;  quarrels  with  church,  86, 
87;  Pope  deposes  him,  87;  does 
homage  to  the  Pope,  87 ;  and  the 
Barons,  88-91 ;  The  Great  Charter 
(1215),  89,  90. 

John  of  Gaunt,  see  Gaunt. 

Junto,  401  and  note. 

Justiciars,  69,  103. 

Jutes,  12. 

Kent,  Duchess  of,  488  and  note. 

Ket’s  Rebellion  (1549),  230,  246. 

Killiekrankie,  Battle  of,  395. 

King,  Anglo-Saxon,  how  chosen  and  de¬ 
posed,  49 ;  hereditary  succession 
acknowledged,  112;  choice  of,  rests 
with  Parliament,  379 ;  must  be  Prot¬ 
estant,  406;  accession  oath  altered, 
543. 

Kitchener,  Lord,  528,  529. 

Knight,  94  ;  become  landowners,  69. 

Knighthood,  Compulsory,  116,  316. 

Knox,  John,  259,  260. 

Kruger,  Paul,  526,  527. 

Labor,  Anglo-Saxon,  48 ;  Norman,  95-97 ; 
effect  of  Black  Death,  141;  Statute 
of  Laborers  (1351),  142;  Peasants’ 
Revolt  (1381),  151-154;  increase  of 
pauperism,  245 ;  Statute  of  Appren¬ 
tices  (1563),  258;  Poor  Laws  (1.563, 
1601),  258;  in  17th  century,  383;  dis¬ 
ordered  conditions  (1819),  475,  476; 
Poor  Law  (1834),  484;  Strikes  and 
Trade  Unions,  485 ;  under  Victoria, 
531,  532;  Party,  536. 

Ladysmith,  528. 

La  Hogue,  battle  of,  397. 

Lancaster,  the  Red  Rose  of,  176. 

Lancaster,  Wars  of  the  Roses,  176-184; 
union  of,  and  York,  183. 

Land,  at  time  of  Norman  conquest,  47,  48 ; 
Bookland,  47 ;  Folkland,  47 ;  I.<oan- 
land,  48  ;  systems  of  holding,  47,  174, 
244,  246  ;  under  Feudalism,  56 ;  and 
Domesday  Book,  57,  58;  manorial 


644 


INDEX 


system,  94-97,  244 ;  open  field  sys¬ 
tem,  95-97 ;  three  field  system,  97 
note ;  Enclosures,  174 ;  monastic, 
seizure  by  Henry  VIII,  212,  213;  En¬ 
closure  Acts  (George  III),  452;  new 
valuation  of  (1909),  (New  Domesday 
Book),  537. 

Lanfranc,  Archbishop,  56,  59. 

Langland,  William,  148,  149. 

Langton,  St^hen,  86-89,  91. 

Language,  English,  becomes  that  of  the 
people,  102 ;  English,  increased  use 
of,  148. 

Lansdowne,  Lord,  539. 

Latimer,  Bishop,  240  and  note. 

Laud,  Archbishop,  306,  308,  309,  312,  317  ; 
executed,  326. 

Laws,  see  Acts,  Bills,  Statutes. 

Layamon,  102. 

“League  and  Covenant,  Solemn”  (1643), 
325,  326. 

Learning,  advancement  of,  under  Henry 
VII,  193,  194. 

Leicester,  Earl  of,  279. 

Leighton,  Alexander,  307,  308. 

Levellers,  330. 

Lewes,  Battle  of,  108. 

Lexington,  Battle  of,  443. 

Liberal  Party,  rise  of,  484  and  note,  500, 
510,  512,  514,  516,  521,  535,  537,  539. 

Liberal-Unionists,  520. 

Limerick,  Treaty  of  (1691),  393. 

laterature,  Alfred’s  service  to,  29-31 ; 
Early,  51,  792:  in  15th  and  16th 
centuries,  251 ;  under  Elizabeth,  279, 
280,  284;  17th  century,  387,  388; 
in  Norman  Britain,  42. 

Liverpool,  451. 

Liverpool,  Lord,  475,  476. 

Lloyd  George,  David,  see  George,  Lloyd. 

Loanland,  48. 

Lollards,  meaning  of  name,  157  note,  rise 
of,  157 ;  suppression  of,  157 ;  under 
Henry  IV,  163;  Henry  V,  167,  168. 

London,  Roman  times,  7;  Tower  of,  54; 
Plague  in,  361 ;  Great  Fire  of,  362. 

Londonderry,  Siege  of,  392. 

Long  Parliament,  314. 

Lords  Ordainers,  129;  Appellant,  158. 

Louis  XIV  of  France,  Charles  II  and,  360, 
364,  365,  368,  370 ;  William  of  Orange 
(afterwards  William  III),  and,  365, 
.389,  396,  397,  404,  405;  James  II 
and,  396,  397;  “(jld  Pretender”  and, 
407,  419,  420;  Anne  and,  409^12. 

Low  (jhurch  Party,  Rise  of,  370. 

Loyal  Association,  The,  401  and  note. 

Lucknow,  504. 

Mad  Parliament,  107. 

Magna  Carta  (1215),  89,  90;  provisions 
of,  90;  John  absolved  from  oath,  91 ; 
confirmed  by  Henry  III,  104,  105. 

Mahdi,  519. 

Maid  of  Norway,  120. 

Major  Generals,  344,  345. 

Majuba  Hill,  Battle  of,  517. 

Malplaquet,  412. 

Malta,  465,  466,  474. 

Manchester  meeting  (1819),  475. 

Manorial  System,  95-97,  244. 


Manufacture,  245,  247,  250 ;  imder  Eliza¬ 
beth,  258. 

Manufactures  in  17th  century,  382,  383 ; 
Industrial  Revolution,  450,  455,  456, 
475. 

Mar,  Earl  of,  420. 

Margaret  of  Anjou,  174,  176-179. 

Marlborough,  Duchess  of,  408,  409,  414. 

Marlborough,  Duke  of,  409-414. 

Marsh,  Adam,  112. 

Marston  Moor,  Battle  of,  326. 

Mary,  daughter^f  Henry  VIII,  202. 

Mary  I,  character  of,  234 ;  Catholic  re¬ 
action  under,  234,  235 ;  Spanish  mar¬ 
riage,  235-238 ;  Wyatt’s  Rebellion, 
236  ;  England  restored  to  Rome,  238 ; 
Persecution  of  Protestants,  239,  241 ; 
loses  Calais,  241. 

Marv,  daughter  of  Duke  of  York  (James 
II),  367  note,  368. 

Mary,  (^ueen,  see  George  V. 

Mary,  Queen,  see  William  and  Mary. 

Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  256,  259;  charac¬ 
ter  of,  260,  261  ;  marries  Darnley, 
261,  262;  marries  Bothwell,  262, 
263 ;  abdicates,  264 ;  imprisoned  by 
Elizabeth,  264,  265 ;  trial  and  exe¬ 
cution  of,  269,  270. 

Masham,  Mrs.,  414. 

Mason  and  Slidell,  508. 

Matilda,  daughter  of  Henr3^  I,  62, 63, 64,  65. 

IVIatilda,  wife  of  Henry  I,  60. 

Merchant  Adventures,  184. 

Merchant  Gilds,  98. 

Mercia,  14,  22. 

Merciless  Parliament,  158. 

Methodists,  453,  454. 

Middle  Class,  rise  of,  243. 

Milan  Decree  (1807),  470. 

Militant  suffragists,  541  note. 

Militia,  made  National,  78 ;  Charles  I 
and,  320;  Militia  Bill  (1642),  320. 

Millenary  Petition  (1603),  289,  290. 

Alilton,  John,  388. 

Minimum  Wage  Bill  (1912),  542. 

^lise  of  Amiens  (1264),  107;  of  Lewes 
(1264),  109. 

Model  Parliament,  123. 

Monasteries,  dissolution  of,  209-213;  see 
also  Monasticism. 

Monasticism,  benefits  of,  51 ;  Dunstan, 
51 ;  growth  of,  100 ;  evils  of,  210,  211. 

Money,  see  Coinage. 

Monk,  General,  337,  339. 

Monks,  see  Monasticism. 

Monmouth,  Duke  of,  370  and  note,  373, 
374. 

Monopolies,  under  Elizabeth,  281 ;  under 
James  I,  296. 

Montfort,  Simon  de,  108-111,  119. 

More,  Sir  Thomas,  194,  209;  author  of 
“Utopia,”  209;  execution  of,  208. 

Morley,  Lord,  539. 

Mortimer,  Roger,  131,  133. 

Mortmain,  116  and  note. 

“Morton’s  Fork,”  192. 

Mount  Badon,  13. 

Municipal  Corporations  Act  (1835),  486 
and  note. 

Mutiny  Act  (1689),  391  and  note. 

Mutiny,  Indian,  502-504. 


INDEX 


645 


Napoleon  Bonaparte,  460,  461,  465-468, 
470-473;  at  Waterloo,  473. 

Napoleon  III  (Louis),  498  and  note,  500, 
502. 

Naseby,  Battle  of,  327. 

Navigation  Acts,  see  Acts. 

Navy,  beginning  of,  28. 

Nelson,  Lord,  460,  461,  467,  468  and  note. 

Netherlands,  see  Dutch. 

Nevil’s  Cross,  Battle  of,  140. 

New  Forest,  58. 

“New  Model  Army,”  326,  327. 

Newport,  Treaty  of  (1648),  330. 

News  Letter,  382. 

Newspaper,  early,  381. 

New  York,  360;  origin  of  name,  361. 

Nightingale,  Florence,  501,  502  and  note. 

Nile,  Battle  of  the,  461. 

Nonconformists,  Brownists,  277 ;  Con- 
gregationalists,  277 ;  Independents, 
277,  328,  332,  336  ;  Separatists,  277  ; 
Presbyterians,  326,  328,  332,  334, 
336 ;  Quakers,  353,  3.56  note,  357. 

Nonconformists,  see  also  Dissenter. 

Non-jurors,  390. 

Norman  Conquest,  40 ;  results  of,  93. 

Normandy,  origin  of,  26 ;  bequest  of,  to 
Robert,  59;  conquered  by  Henry  I, 
61 ;  loss  of,  by  John,  86,  92 ;  all 
claims  to  French  land  given  up  by 
Edward  III,  143. 

Normans,  influence  of,  41,  42. 

North,  Lord,  442,  445,  447. 

Northampton,  Treaty  of  (1328),  133. 

Northmen,  25,  26. 

Northumberland  (John  Dudley),  Duke 
of,  assumes  leadership).  231  ;  policy  of, 
232 ;  and  Lady  Jane  Grey  conspiracy, 
232,  233 ;  execution  of,  233. 

Northumbria,  14,  22. 

Oates,  Titus,  368,  369. 

Occasional  Conformity  Act  (1711), 415, 421. 

O’Connell,  Daniel,  479,  490. 

Offa,  22. 

Old  Age  Pension  Bill  (1908),  536. 

Oldcastle,  Sir  John,  167. 

Old  Sarum,  432  and  note,  481. 

Opium  trade,  494,  495  and  note ;  war,  495. 

Orange  Free  State,  506,  527. 

Orangemen,  462  and  note,  463. 

Ordeal  trial  by,  50  and  note. 

Orders  in  Council  (1806-1807),  469,  470. 

“Ordinances,”  129,  131,  326. 

Orleans,  Siege  of,  170-172. 

Oudenarde,  Battle  of,  411. 

Oxford,  101,  194,  200,  512. 

Oxford,  Provisions  of,  107. 

Pale,  English,  150,  190. 

Palmerston,  Lord,  493,  500,  509. 

Paris,  Peace  of  (1763),  439. 

Parliament,  first  use  of  name,  106;  the 
“Mad,”  107  ;  of  1265,  “The  Famous,” 
110;  all  classes  rep)resented  in,  110; 
the  “Model”  (1205),  123;  gains 
control  of  taxes  and  revenue,  125, 
148;  “The  Good”  of  Edward  III, 
146,  147;  growth  of,  under  Edward 
III,  147,  148;  the  “Merciless”  of 
Richard  II,  158;  of  Shrewsbury,  160; 


privileges  gained,  Henry  V,  167  ;  rec¬ 
ognizes  Henry  VII,  183;  the  Irish, 
190;  Wolscy  and,  200 ;  under  Henry 
VIII,  200,  201.  204,  205;  Abbots 
removed  from  House  of  Lords,  213; 
and  Gunpowder  Plot,  291,  292; 

James  I,  conflict  with,  292,  297-298; 
Addled  Parliament,  296 ;  James  I 
tears  record,  298;  First  of  Charles  I, 
299-300;  Second  of  Charles  I,  300; 
Third  of  Charles  I,  301  ;  of  1629,  303, 
304;  The  Petition  of  Right  (1628), 
301;  “Short,”  313;  “Long,”  314; 
Triennial  Act  (1641),  316;  “The 
Grand  Remonstrance”  (1641),  317; 
arrest  of  five  members,  318;  gov¬ 
ernment  by,  320  and  note,  “Self- 
denying  Ordinance,”  326;  “Heads  of 
Proposals,”  329,  330;  “Pride’s  Purge,” 
331;  “The  Rump,”  331;  House  of 
Lords  (1649),  abolished,  333;  House 
of  Lords  restored  (1660),  351 ;  Crom¬ 
well  expels  “The  Rump,”  340; 
“Barebones,”  340,  341;  First  Pro¬ 
tectorate,  344 ;  Second  Protectorate, 
348,  349;  “Humble  Petition  and 
Advice”  (1657),  349;  Convention, 
351,  352;  Cavalier,  or  “Second 

Long,”  354,  355;  “Drunken,”  358; 
Catholics  excluded  from,  369 ;  Ox¬ 
ford,  370;  Triennial  Bill  (1694),  398; 
Act  of  Settlement  (1701),  406;  Un¬ 
equal  representation  in,  418;  Sep¬ 
tennial  Act  (1716),  421 ;  debates  of, 
published,  441  note;  Catholics  read¬ 
mitted  to  (1829),  479  ;  Jews  admitted 
to  (1829),  479  note;  reforms  in  (1830- 
1832),  480-485;  many  cities  not  rep¬ 
resented  in,  481 ;  reform  of  (1867), 
510;  Ballot  Act  (1872),  512;  Fran¬ 
chise  Bill  (1884),  519;  Redistribu¬ 
tion  Bill  (1885),  519;  I^arliament  or 
Veto  Bill  (1911),  538,  539;  payment 
of  members,  540;  see  House  of  Com¬ 
mons,  House  of  Lords. 

Parnell,  Charles  Stewart,  517  and  note, 
518  note,  521. 

Parties,  rise  of  political,  369 ;  party  min¬ 
istry,  400. 

Parties,  see  also  Conservative,  Liberal, 
Tory,  Whig. 

Partition  Treaties  (1698,  1700),  404,  405. 

“Passive  resistance,”  534  note. 

Pauperism  in  15th  and  Kith  centuries,  213, 
245 ;  under  Elizabeth,  258,  259 ; 
under  Victoria,  531,  532. 

Peace,  see  Treaties. 

Peasants’  Revolt  (1381),  151,  152. 

Peel,  Sir  Robert,  476,  477,  479,  485,  495, 
496  and  note. 

Peninsular  War,  470. 

Penn,  Sir  William,  347,  348. 

Penny  Postage,  493. 

Pension.  Old  Age  Bill,  536. 

“People’s  Charter”  (1838),  491,  492. 

Percys,  revolt  of  (Henry  IV),  164. 

Petition,.  Millenary  (1603),  289,  290;  of 
Right  (1628),  301,  302  and  note. 

“Petitioners,”  369. 

Pevensey,  William  the  Conqueror,  lands 
at,  40. 


646 


INDEX 


Philip  Augustus,  85-88. 

Philip  II  of  Spain,  marries  Mary  I,  235- 
238  ;  wishes  to  marry  Elizabeth,  256  ; 
plans  to  invade  England,  273,  274 ; 
and  the  Armada,  274-276. 

Philippa,  Queen,  and  Calais,  140. 

Piets  and  Scots,  12. 

Piers  Plowman,  149. 

Pilgrim  Fathers.  293. 

Pilgrimage  of  Grace  (1536),  213,  214. 

Pinkie  Cleugh,  Battle  of,  229,  259. 

Pitt,  William,  Earl  of  Chatham,  432;  re¬ 
stored  to  power,  437 ;  resigns,  439 ; 
Prime  Minister,  441. 

Pitt,  William,  the  younger,  447-469; 
Prime  Minister,  448;  character,  449; 
India  Bill,  457 ;  and  Finances,  4.58. 

Plague,  The  (1665b  361. 

Plague,  “The  Black  Death,”  141. 

Plantagenet,  meaning  of  name,  60 ;  the 
first  in  England,  66. 

Plassey,  Battle  of,  436. 

“Plural  voting,”  537,  538. 

Plymouth,  Massachusetts,  293. 

“Pocket  boroughs,”  481  note,  483. 

Poitiers,  Battle  of  (1356),  142. 

Pole,  Cardinal,  217  and  note,  238,  239,  211. 

Police  force,  reformed  by  Peel,  477. 

Poll  Tax,  151  and  note. 

Poor  Laws,  of  Elizabeth.  258,  259 ;  of 
18th  century,  452,  of  1834,  484. 

“Popish  Plot,”  368,  369. 

Postage,  penny,  493. 

Poynings  Acts  (1494),  190,  446. 

Pr®munire,  Statute  of  (1353),  149,  206. 

Prayer  Book,  English,  230,  231,  251. 

Presbyterianism,  255 ;  in  Scotland  (Cal¬ 
vinists),  259  ;  Charles  I  and,  312,  313, 
327 ;  in  England.  326.  328,  329,  332, 
334,  336,  356  note,  358. 

Press,  freedom  of  the,  400  and  note. 

Prestonpans,  Battle  of,  429. 

“Pretender,  The  Old,”  407,  419,  420. 

“Pretender,  The  Young,”  429-431  and 
note. 

“Pride’s  Purge,”  331. 

Prime  minister,  his  power,  489. 

Prince  Albert,  see  .\lbert. 

Prince  Eugene  of  Savoy,  411  and  note. 

Prince  of  Wales,  the  first,  120. 

“Princes.  Little,  in  the  Tower,”  182. 

Printing  introduced  into  England,  185. 

Prison  reform,  454. 

“Pro-Boers,”  528  note. 

Progresses,  Royal,  284. 

Protector,  Richard,  Duke  of  Gloucester, 
182;  Somerset,  Duke  of,  227-231; 
Cromwell,  Oliver,  342;  Cromwell, 
Richard,  350. 

Provisions  of  Oxford  (1258),  107,  109; 
of  W^estminster  (1259),  111. 

Pr>Tine,  William,  308. 

Puritans,  rise  of,  255,  276;  “Millenary  Pe¬ 
tition”  (1603),  290;  Hampton  Court 
Conference  (1604),  290  ;  many  emi¬ 
grate,  307 ;  Revolution,  Chap.  XX, 
reaction  against,  357,  358. 

Pur\^eyance,  354  and  note. 

Pym,  John,  301,  313,  314,  325. 

Quakers,  353,  356  note,  357. 


Quebec,  Fall  of,  438. 

Quia  Emptores  (1290),  117. 

Raleigh.  Walter,  Sir,  280,  281,  286,  290, 
294. 

Ramilies,  Battle  of,  411. 

Recoinage  Act  (1696),  401. 

Red  Cross  Society,  501. 

Reformation,  the  English,  226,  228,  230, 
231,  234;  established,  254,  255. 

Reform  Bill  (1832),  482  and  note,  484, 
492  (1867),  510. 

Regency  Bill  (1788),  458. 

Regent,  Prince  of  Wales  acts  as  (1810- 
1820),  475. 

Regicides  punished  by  Charles  II,  354. 

Remonstrance,  The  Grand  (1641),  317. 

Renaissance  in  England,  193,  194. 

Revolution  (1688),  376-379. 

Revolution,  American,  443-447. 

Rhodes,  Cecil,  525. 

Richard  I,  “Coeur  de  Lion,”  81;  how 
he  raised  funds,  81,  84;  goes  on  Cru¬ 
sade,  82 ;  captured,  83 ;  ransomed, 
83;  death,  84. 

Richard  II,  151 ;  poll  tax,  151 ;  ^Vat 
Tyler  rebellion,  152-154;  Wycliffe 
and  the  Lollards,  155-158;  the  “Mer¬ 
ciless  Parliament,”  158;  deposed, 
161;  death  of,  162;  character  of, 
162. 

Richard  III,  revolts  against,  182,  183; 
killed  at  Bosworth  Field,  183. 

Richard,  Duke  of  Gloucester,  182. 

Ridlev,  Bishop,  240. 

Ridolfi  Plot,  267. 

Riot  Act  (1715),  419. 

Rizzio,  David,  262. 

Roads,  381,  451. 

Robert,  son  of  William  I,  59,  60,  61. 

Roberts,  Lord,  528. 

Roebuck,  John,  451. 

Rogers,  John,  240. 

Romans,  first  in  Britain,  4,  5;  invade 
Britain,  5,  6 ;  their  occupation  of 
Britain,  6-10  ;  withdraw  from  Britain, 
10,  11. 

“Root  and  Branch”  Bill  (1641),  317. 

Rose,  the  Red,  Lancaster,  176;  the 
WTiite,  York,  176. 

Rosebery,  Lord,  522. 

Roses,  Wars  of  the,  176-184. 

“Rotten  boroughs,”  481  and  note,  483. 

Roundheads  and  (Savaliers,  324. 

Roval  Society  founded  (1662),  388. 

“Rump.  The,”  331,  334.  340,  350. 

Runnymede,  89. 

Rupert,  Prince,  324,  325,  326,  334. 

Russell,  Lord  John,  479,  482  and  note, 
496,  497-500.  504  note.  508,  510. 

Russell,  Lord  William,  executed,  372. 

Russo-Turkish  War  (1877-1878),  515. 

Rye  House  Plot,  372. 

Ryswick,  Peace  of  (1697),  397,  403,  407. 

Saint  Albans,  Battle  of,  176. 

Saint  Paul’s  Cathedral,  386. 

Saladin  Tax,  79. 

Salisbury.  Lord,  520-523,  533. 

Salisbury,  Oath  of  (1086),  57. 

Salvation  Army,  532  and  note. 


INDEX 


647 


Saratoga,  Battle  of,  444. 

Saruni,  Old,  432  and  note,  481. 

Sawtre,  William,  166. 

Saxons,  on  the  continent,  12;  character 
of,  12;  come  to  Britain,  13;  settle¬ 
ments  of,  14-16. 

Schism  Act  (1714),  415,  421. 

Schools,  see  Education. 

Scotland,  William  the  Lion  does  homage 
to  Henry  II,  77,  78,  80;  the  succes¬ 
sion  and  Edward  I,  120-122;  rebel¬ 
lion  under  Wallace,  126,  127  ;  Robert 
Bruce,  127,  128,  130;  wins  independ¬ 
ence  at  Bannockburn,  130 ;  regains 
independence,  133 ;  war  with  Eng¬ 
land,  134 ;  Reformation  in,  259,  260 ; 
the  Church  and  Charles  I,  312,  313; 
revolt  against  Charles  I,  313;  union 
with  England  (1652),  337  ;  given  30 
members  in  Parliament,  337 ;  Res¬ 
toration  in,  358 ;  persecution  of 
Covenanters,  359;  uprising  in  (1685), 
374,  375;  Revolution  in  (1689), 
394-396;  Claverhouse,  395;  Mas¬ 
sacre  of  Glencoe,  395 ;  the  Old  Pre¬ 
tender,  407, 420 ;  union  with  England 
(1707),  414;  rising  under  Mar,  420; 
the  Young  Pretender,  429-431  and 
note;  Reform  Bill  (1832),  483. 

Scots  and  Piets,  12. 

“Second  Civil  War,”  330. 

Sedgemoor,  Battle  of,  374. 

Self-denying  Ordinance  (1645),  326. 

Senlac,  Battle  of,  40. 

Separatists,  277. 

Sepoy  rebellion,  502,  504. 

Septennial  Act  (1716),  421. 

Serfs,  95. 

Settlement,  Act  of  (1661),  350,  of  (1701), 
406. 

Sevastopol,  siege  of,  501,  502. 

Seven  Bishops,  the,  and  Janies  II,  376. 

Seven  Years’  War,  437,  439. 

Seymour,  Jane,  214,  215. 

Shaftesbury,  Lord,  484  note. 

Shakespeare,  280,  284. 

Sheriff  (shirereeve),  50  and  note. 

“Ship  money,”  310,  316. 

Shires  or  Counties,  49. 

Short  Parliament,  313. 

Shrewsbury,  Battle  of,  164. 

Sidney,  Algernon,  executed,  372. 

Simnel  and  Warbeck  Rebellions,  188, 
191. 

Simon  de  Montfort,  see  Montfort. 

Six  Acts,  476. 

Six  Articles  of  Faith,  217. 

Slave  trade,  “The  Assiento,”  413,  454, 
457,  469. 

Slaverv  abolished  in  British  dominions, 
469. 

Slaves,  early  English,  48. 

Sluys,  Battle  of,  137. 

Smith,  Adam,  452,  458. 

Social  Life.  Anglo-Saxon,  43-51  ;  Norman- 
English,  93-103;  15th  and  16th  cen¬ 
turies,  246-251  ;  17th  century,  383- 
386;  18th  century,  454-456. 

Solemn  League  and  Covenant  (1643), 
326  326 

Solway  Moss,  Battle  of,  221. 


Somerset  (Edward  Seymour),  Duke  of, 
chosen  Protector,  227 ;  character 
and  policy  of,  228-231 ;  executed, 
231. 

Sophia,  Electress  of  Hanover,  406  and 
note,  415. 

South  Africa,  506,  523 ;  Boer  War,  524- 
528 ;  Union  of,  542. 

South  Sea  Scheme,  421^23  and  note. 

Spain,  James  I  and,  295,  298;  war  with, 
under  Charles  I,  299,  300;  see  Philip 

n. 

Spanish  Armada,  274-276 ;  Spanish  suc¬ 
cession,  403-407  ;  War  of,  410. 

“Sports,  Book  of,”  309. 

Stamford  Bridge,  Battle  of,  38. 

Stamp  Act,  American  (1765),  441,  443. 

Star  Chamber,  191  and  note. 

Star  Chamber,  The  Court  of,  307,  308. 

Statutes,  Apprentices  (1563),  258. 

De  Religiosi  (1279),  116. 

Gloucester  (1278),  115. 

Kilkenny  (1367),  150. 

Laborers  (1351),  142. 

Alortmain  (1279),  116. 

Of  Parliament,  see  also  acts  and  bills. 

Praemunire  (1353),  149,  206. 

Provisors  (1351),  149. 

Quia  Emptores  (1290),  117. 

Supremacy  (1534),  208 ;  (1559),  254. 

Uniformity  (1559),  254. 

Wales  (1283),  120. 

Westminster  (1275),  115. 

Westminster  II  (1285),  117. 

Winchester  (1285),  116. 

Steam  engine,  Watt’s,  450. 

Stephen  and  the  baron.s,  64  ;  civil  war, 
64.  65. 

Stephen  of  Blois,  63. 

Stonehenge,  4. 

Strafford,  Earl  of  (Thomas  Wentwortli), 
306-316  ;  policy  of  “Thorough,”  308  ; 
impeachment  and  execution  of,  314- 
316. 

Strikes,  (1833)  485;  (1910-1912)  dock, 
541;  railway,  542;  coal  miners,  542. 

Stuart,  Clharles  (the  “  Young  Pretender”), 
429-431  and  note. 

Stuart,  James  (the  “Old  Pretender”), 
407,  419,  420. 

“Submission  of  the  Clergy,”  207. 

Succession.  Roval,  406. 

Sudan.  519,  528,  529. 

Suez  Canal,  514  and  note,  529. 

Suffrage,  see  Bills,  Reform ;  woman,  540, 
541. 

“Suffragettes,”  540,  541. 

Surrey,  Earl  of,  223. 

Swegen,  the  Danish  king,  35. 

Tariff  Reforms  (1842),  495,  496. 

Taxes,  Roman,  8 ;  Dancgeld,  34 ;  under 
Normans,  57,  58 ;  Domesday  Book 
and,  57,  58;  under  Henry  II,  69; 
Saladin,  79;  restricted  by  Confir- 
rnatio  Cartarurn,  124,  125;  Poll, 
(1379),  151  and  note,  Henry  VIPs 
policy,  192;  illegal  under  James  I, 
292,  296 ;  and  Petition  of  Right 
(1689),  301  ;  Ship  Money,  310;  under 
Long  Parliament,  316;  Cromwell 


648 


INDEX 


taxes  Cavaliers,  344 ;  on  American 
colonies,  441,  442;  Budget  (1909), 
536-538. 

Tea  introduced  into  England,  385  and 
note. 

Telegraph,  531. 

Telephone,  531. 

Tenchbrai,  Battle  of,  61. 

Test  Act  (1673),  366,  367,  375,  479. 

Teutonic  tribes  come  to  Britain,  12-14; 
Conquest,  12-14,  16;  early  kingdoms 
in  Britain,  14-16  ;  civilization,  16-17. 

Tewkesbury,  Battle  of,  179. 

Thegn,  48. 

Theodore  of  Tarsus,  21. 

Thirty-nine  Articles  of  Religion,  232. 

Thirty  Years’  War  (1618-1648),  296, 
310,  325. 

“Thorough,”  Policy  of,  308. 

Toleration,  religious,  not  understood, 
239,  303 ;  under  Cromwell,  345 ;  Act 
(1689),  390,  394. 

“Tonnage  and  poundage,”  299,  303,  304. 

Tory,  origin  of  name,  369  and  note. 

Tory  Party,  under  William  III,  392,  400, 

402,  406;  under  Anne,  414;  under 
George  II,  427 ;  under  George  III, 
“New  Toryism,”  460;  called  Con¬ 
servatives,  489  note,  490. 

Tower  of  London,  54. 

Town  Charters,  attacked,  371. 

Towns,  Roman,  8 ;  Norman,  46. 

Towns  and  Town  Life,  46,  81,  97,  247, 
371,  380,  381. 

Townshend  Acts  (1767),  441. 

TowTiships,  50. 

Towton,  Battle  of,  178. 

Trade  and  Commerce,  184,  224,  248,  286, 
293,  294.  382,  413,  433, 494. 

Trade  Unions  forbidden,  456;  allowed, 
478. 

Trafalgar,  Battle  of,  467. 

Transvaal  Republic,  506,  516,  517,  526- 
528 

Travel,  in  17th  centurj',  381 ;  in  18th 
centurj',  451. 

Treaty,  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  (1748),  431,  433 ; 
Amiens  (1802),  465;  Berwick  (1639), 
313;  Br^tigny  (1360),  143;  Dover 
(1670),  364,  365;  Limerick  (1691), 
393;  Northampton  (1328),  133  ;  Paris 
(1763),  439;  Paris  (1814),  471,  506; 
Paris  (1856),  502;  Partition  (1698, 
1700),  404,  405 ;  Rvswick  (1697),  397, 

403,  407;  Troyes  (1420),  169;  with 
United  States  (1783),  447 ;  Utrecht 
(1713),  412,  413,  419,  422,  428;  Wal¬ 
lingford  (1153),  66;  Wedmore  (878), 
28 

Trent,  affair,  the,  508. 

Triennial  Bill  (1641),  316;  (1664),  355; 
(1694),  398. 

Trinidad,  474,  505. 

Triple  Alliance  (1716),  421 ;  (1788),  458. 

Troyes,  Treaty  of  (1420),  169. 

Tudor,  Genealogy  of  family,  160 ;  Ed¬ 
mund,  180;  Henry,  180;  gains  the 
crown,  182 ;  marries  Elizabeth  of 
York,  183. 

Turkey,  "a  great  power,”  502,  515,  516, 
523. 


Tyler,  Wat,  152,  154. 

Tyndale,  William,  215,  216;  his  Bible, 
215,  216. 

Uitlanders,  525-527. 

Ulster,  colonization  of.  by  Scotch  and 
English,  293;  siege  of  Londonderry, 
392;  Tenant  Right,  511  note. 

Union,  Act  of  (1800),  463,  490. 

Unionists,  523. 

Union  Jack,  flag,  413,  465. 

Union  of  South  Africa,  542. 

“United  Irishmen,”  462. 

United  States,  see  America. 

Universities,  founded,  101,  102;  “Oxford 
Reformers,”  194  ;  religious  tests,  abol¬ 
ished,  512. 

“Utopia,”  Sir  Thomas  More’s,  209. 

Utrecht,  Peace  of  (1713),  412,  413,  419, 
422,  428. 

Van  Tromp,  339. 

Venables,  Robert,  347,  348. 

^’enezuela  boundary  dispute,  523. 

Veto  Act  or  Parliament  Bill  (1911),  538, 
539. 

Victoria,  character  of  reign,  488;  mar¬ 
ries  Prince  Albert,  489 ;  Chartism, 
491,  493  ;  Chinese  War  (Opium  War), 
494,  495;  Crimean  War,  494,  500- 
502,  513;  Irish  famine,  496,  497; 
Indian  Mutiny.  502-504 ;  death  of 
Prince  Albert,  507 ;  American  Civil 
War,  507-509;  Trent  affair,  the,  508; 
Alabama,  Claims,  the,  509  note,  513; 
Reform  Bills  (1866,  1867),  510;  Irish 
Land  Act  (1870),  511;  Elementary 
Education  Act  (1870),  511 ;  Empress 
of  India,  515;  Sudan,  the,  519,  528, 
529;  South  Africa,  506,  517;  Boer 
War,  527,  528,  530;  Territorial  Ex¬ 
pansion,  523-524 ;  Diamond  Jubilee, 
530;  her  death,  530;  character  of, 
530;  review  of  reign,  530-532. 

Vienna,  Congress  of  (1814-1815),  471- 
473. 

Villeins,  95. 

Villiers,  Charles,  see  Buckingham. 

Virginia,  colonization  of,  293. 

Wages,  effect  of  “Black  Death  ”  on  (1349), 
141,  142;  effect  of  Poll  Tax  (1380), 
151 ;  in  15th  and  16th  centuries,  247, 
250,  under  Elizabeth,  258 ;  minimum 
(1912),  542. 

Wakefield,  Battle  of,  177. 

Wales,  and  Henry  II,  80;  conquered  by 
Edward  I,  119,  120;  first  Prince  of, 
120;  Statute  of  (1283),  120;  and 
Henry  IV,  164 ;  disestablishment  of 
the  English  church  in  (1913),  545. 

Wallace,  William,  126-128. 

Wallingford.  Treaty  of  (1153),  66. 

Walpole,  Sir  Robert,  423-425;  prime 
minister,  423 ;  policy  of,  424,  427, 
428. 

Walsingham,  Sir  Francis,  253. 

Wapentakes,  50. 

Warbeck  and  Simnel  Rebellions,  188, 
191. 

Wars,  see  names  of  as  “Civil,”  etc. 


INDEX 


649 


Wars  of  the  Roses,  176-184. 

Warwick,  Earl  of  (15th  century),  178, 
“kingmaker,”  17^. 

Washington,  George,  436,  444. 

Waterloo,  Battle  of  (1815),  473. 

Watling  street,  Roman  road,  7. 

Wat  Tyler.  152,  154. 

Watt,  James,  450. 

Wedmore,  Treaty  of  (878),  28. 

Wellesley,  Sir  Arthur,  see  Wellington. 

Wellington,  Duke  of,  470,  473,  482. 

Wentworth,  Thomas,  Earl  of  Strafford, 
see  Strafford. 

Wesley,  John  and  Charles,  453. 

Wesleyans,  453,  454. 

Wessex,  or  West  Saxons,  26. 

West  Indies,  505,  506  and  note. 

Westminster  Abbey  built  by  Edward  the 
Confessor,  46  and  note;  Henry  VH’s 
chapel,  187. 

Wexford,  Battle  of,  335  and  note. 

Whig,  origin  of  name,  369  and  note.  Party, 
under  William  III,  392,  400,  401,  406 ; 
under  Anne,  410,  412,  414;  under 
George  I,  417-423;  under  George  II, 
427;  under  George  III,  446;  under 
William  IV,  481 ;  call  themselves 
Liberal,  484. 

Whitby,  Council  of,  30. 

Whitefield,  George,  453. 

“White  Ship,  The.”  62. 

“White  Tower,”  54. 

Wilberforce,  William,  454,  457. 

Wilkes,  John,  440  and  note. 

William  I,  quells  rebellions,  53,  54,  56; 
and  the  church,  56 ;  and  feudalism, 
56,  57 ;  holds  great  meeting  at  Salis¬ 
bury,  57 ;  Domesday  Book,  57,  58 ; 
death  of,  58. 

William  II,  Rufus,  59 ;  trouble  with 
barons,  59 ;  trouble  with  church,  59 ; 
and  Anselm,  59-61 ;  charter  to  the 
barons,  60 ;  death  of,  60. 

William  and  Mary,  characters  of,  389 ; 
Convention  Parliament,  378,  389 ; 
Declaration  of  Right  (1088),  379; 


Non-jurors,  390;  Battle  of  the 
Boyne,  393 ;  Treaty  of  Limerick, 
393 ;  and  Scotland,  394-396 ;  Mas¬ 
sacre  of  Glencoe,  395,  396 ;  war  with 
France,  396 ;  Peace  of  Ryswick 
(1697),  397;  National  Debt.  398; 
Bank  of  England  established,  398; 
Partition  Treaties  (1698-1700),  404, 
405 ;  William’s  death,  407,  408. 

William  IV,  character  of,  479-480,  486 ; 
abolition  of  slavery,  484 ;  factory 
reform,  484  and  note ;  need  of  par¬ 
liamentary  reform,  480,  481 ;  Re¬ 
form  Bill  (1832),  482  and  note,  484, 
492. 

William  the  Norman,  39 ;  claims  to  Eng¬ 
lish  crown,  39  ;  invades  England,  40  ; 
fights  Battle  of  Hastings  (1066),  40; 
crowned,  41. 

William  of  Orange,  365,  368 ;  invited  to 
take  English  crown,  376 ;  lands  in 
England,  377. 

Winchester  College,  founded,  149. 

Witenagemote,  35,  49. 

Wolfe,  General,  captures  Quebec,  438. 

Wolsey,  Thomas,  Cardinal,  196-204 ;  rise 
of,  196;  policy  of,  197,  201 ;  and  the 
divorce  of  Catherine,  203 ;  fall  and 
death  of,  203,  204. 

Woman  suffrage,  540,  541. 

Women  and  children,  employment  of, 
16th  century,  248-250  ;  18th  century, 
456,  484  note. 

Woolen  trade,  245. 

Worcester,  Battle  of,  336. 

Wren,  Sir  Christopher,  386. 

Wyatt’s  Rebellion  (1554),  236. 

Wycliffe,  John,  155-157 ;  his  Bible,  156, 
157. 

Yeomen,  383. 

York,  Parliament  of,  131. 

York,  Wars  of  the  Roses,  176-184;  union 
of,  with  Lancaster,  183. 

York,  the  White  Rose,  176. 

Yorktown,  Battle  of,  445. 


INDEX  TO  APPENDIX  I 


Adrian  VI,  611  and  note. 

Africa,  Northern,  551. 

Alaric,  the  Goth,  549,  550. 

Albigenses,  588. 

Alfonso  X,  592. 

Alva,  Duke  of,  616,  617. 

Attila,  the  Hun,  550,  551. 

Augsburg,  Confession,  612 ;  Diet  of,  612 ; 

Peace  of,  613,  621. 

Avignon,  Popes  at,  597,  605. 

“Babylonish  Captivity,”  597. 

Barbarians,  547-548. 

Basel,  Council  of,  600. 

Belisarius,  552,  554. 

Boniface  VIII,  596. 

Bouvines,  Battle  of,  589. 

Bulls,  Papal,  Clericis  laicoSy  596,  597 ; 
Unam  Sanctam,  596,  597;  against 
Luther,  610. 

Calvin,  John,  614. 

Capet,  Hugh,  568,  593. 

Celibacy  of  the  Clergy,  574. 

Ch&lons,  Battle  of,  551. 

Charlemagne,  see  Charles  the  Great. 
Charles  I  of  England  and  Thirty  Years’ 
War.  623,  624. 

Charles  the  Bald,  563. 

Charles  the  Bold  of  Burgundy,  596. 
Charles  the  Great,  559-563 ;  coronation 
of,  561,562;  relations  with  England, 
562. 

Charles  Martel,  555. 

Charles  V,  610-613. 

Charles  VII  of  France,  596. 

Charles  IX  of  France,  614. 

Christendom  (1500),  Extent  of,  603. 

Cities  and  towms,  582,  583. 

Clermont.  Council  of,  577. 

Clovis,  554. 

Cluniac  Rule,  573. 

Columbus,  discovers  America,  606. 
Compass,  mariner’s  invented,  605,  606. 
Conrad  II,  570. 

Constance,  Council  of,  598  and  note,  600. 
Constantinople,  fall  of,  601. 

Copernicus,  607. 

Cortez,  606. 

“Counter  Reformation,”  619. 

Crusades,  577  and  note ;  first,  578 ; 
second,  580;  third,  580;  fourth,  580; 
results  of,  581,  582. 

Danes.  566  and  note. 

Diaz,  Bartholomew,  606. 

Diet,  The  Rnperial,  604. 

Diets,  Worms  (1521),  610;  Spires  (1526), 
612;  (1529),  612;  Augsburg  (1530), 
612. 


Discovery,  age  of,  606. 

Dominicans,  585. 

Dutch  Republic  (1572),  617. 

Eastern  Empire,  576,  601. 

Eck,  John,  610. 

Electors  of  German  Emperor,  591  note. 
Elizabeth  (of  England),  and  the  Dutch, 
617,618. 

Erasmus's  Greek  New  Testament,  607. 
Excommunication,  575,  588. 

Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  593,  604. 
Feudalism,  rise  of,  564;  elements  of,  505 
and  note ;  effects  of,  565. 

“First  Law,”  590,  591. 

France,  Medieval,  593,  594;  (1500),  603. 
Francis  I.  611,  612,  614. 

Francis  II,  614. 

Francis,  Saint,  584. 

Franciscans,  584  and  note,  585. 

Franks,  547  note;  and  the  Church,  554. 
Frederick  Barbarossa,  570,  586. 

Frederick  II,  586,  589,  590. 

Frederick,  Elector  Palatine,  King  of  Bo¬ 
hemia  (Winter  King),  621  and  note, 
622. 

Frederick  the  Wise,  609. 

Friars,  coming  of,  584,  mission  of,  585. 

Gaiseric  (Genseric),  551,  552. 

Genseric,  see  Gaiseric. 

Germany,  rise  of,  563,  564,  568 ;  Rela¬ 
tions  with  Italy,  569;  Medieval, 
570,  589-591,604;  (1618).  620.  625; 
(1500),  604. 

Gregory  VII  (Hildebrand),  574-576  and 
note. 

Guises,  family  of,  614. 

Gunpowder,  invented,  605.  606. 

Gustavus  Adolphus,  623,  624. 

Hanseatic  League,  583  note. 

Hegira,  the,  557  note. 

Henry  III,  570;  of  France,  614. 

Henry  IV.  570. 

Henry  VIII  (of  England).  611. 

Henry  the  Fowler,  568,  569. 

Henry  IV  of  Navarre,  614,  615. 

Heresy  and  Heretics,  588. 

Hildebrand  (Gregory  VH),  574-576  and 
note. 

Hohenstaufens,  590. 

“Holy  Roman  Empire,”  562,  569,  570 
note,  570. 

Hugh  Capet,  568,  593. 

Huguenots,  614,  615. 

“Humanists,”  607. 

Huns,  547  note,  548,  550,  551, 

Hus,  John,  599. 


INDEX  TO  APPENDIX  I 


651 


Indulgences,  609. 

Innocent  III,  586,  587,  588. 

Inquisition,  619,  620. 

Interdict,  575,  588. 

Inventions,  605. 

Investitures,  575,  576. 

Italy,  relations  with  Germany,  569 ;  in 
13th  century,  591 ;  about  1500,  605. 

James  I  of  England  and  Thirty  Years’ 
War,  622,  623. 

Jerome  of  Prague,  599. 

Jerusalem,  577 ;  Kingdom  of,  579. 

Jesuits,  619. 

Justinian,  554. 

Koran,  557  note. 

Langobards,  see  Lombards, 

Languages,  growth  of,  563. 

Latin  Empire  of  the  East,  580. 

Leicester,  Earl  of,  and  Holland,  618. 
Lombards,  invade  Italy,  556. 

Lothaire,  563. 

Louis  IX  (Saint),  595  and  note. 

Louis  XI,  596. 

Louis  XIII,  615. 

Louis  XIV,  625. 

Louis  the  German  (Ludwig),  563. 

Louis  the  Pious,  563. 

Loyola,  Ignatius,  619. 

Luther,  Martin,  609 ;  burns  papal  bull, 
610,  611-613. 

Magellan,  607. 

Mansfield.  622,  623. 

Martel,  Charles,  555. 

Mary  of  Burgundy,  596, 

“Mayor  of  the  palace,”  555. 

Mazarin  Bible,  605. 

Mecca,  557. 

Medici,  Catherine  de,  614. 

Medici,  Maria  de,  615. 

Medieval  Times,  beginning  of,  563. 
Medina,  557. 

Melanchthon,  612. 

Merovingians,  555  and  note. 
Mohammedanism,  556-558. 

Monasticism,  572 ;  benefits  of,  573. 

Money,  use  of,  583. 

Montfort,  Simon  de,  588. 

Moors  in  Spain,  558,  592. 

Nantes,  Edict  of  (1598),  615. 

Netherlands,  616-618. 

Northmen  in  Europe,  566,  567 ;  in  Eng¬ 
land,  568 ;  in  France,  567,  568. 

Odoacer,  552,  553. 

Ostrogoths,  547  note,  553. 

Otto  the  Great,  569. 

Peasants’  rising,  611. 

Petrarch,  607. 

Philip  Augustus,  594. 

Philip  II,  613,  614,  616. 


Philip  IV  (the  Fair),  595. 

Pippin,  555. 

Pippin  the  Short,  555,  556,  559. 

Pizarro,  606. 

Pope,  Growth  of  Papal  Power,  570-572. 
Portuguese,  discoverers,  606. 

Printing  press  invented,  605,  606. 
Protestants,  612. 

Reformation,  Protestant,  608. 

Religious  Unrest  (1500),  607,  608. 
“Renaissance  Popes,”  600. 

Rhine,  League  of,  583  note. 

Richelieu,  615,  616,  624. 

Rollo,  567  and  note. 

Roman  Empire,  547  and  note ;  causes  of 
decay  of,  548,  549 ;  fall  of,  549,  550. 
Roman  law,  552. 

Rome  (City),  taken  by  Attila,  550; 

Gaiseric,  552. 

Rudolf  of  Hapsburg,  591. 

“Saint  Bartholomew’s  Day,’*  614. 

Saint  Benedict,  rule  of,  572,  573. 

Saladin,  580. 

Saracens,  culture  and  achievements,  558. 
“Schism,  The  Great,”  597. 
“Schmalkalden,  League  of,”  612  and  note, 
613. 

Society  of  Jesus,  619. 

Spain,  Moors  in,  558,  592;  the  people  in, 
592,  593;  (1500). 

Spanish  Armada,  618. 

Spires,  Diet  of,  612. 

Sully,  615. 

Swabian  League,  583  note. 

Switzerland,  591,  592. 

Tetzel,  John,  609. 

Teutonic  tribes,  547  note,  550  note ;  law, 
552. 

Theodoric,  552,  553. 

Third  Estate,  The,  595. 

Thirty, Years’  War,  612,  620-625. 

Tiers  Etats,  595. 

Tilly,  622. 

Tours,  Battle  of,  555. 

Towns  and  cities,  rise  of,  582,  583. 

Trade,  582,  583. 

Trent,  Council  of,  619,  620. 

Turks,  in  Europe,  601,  602;  Ottoman, 
600  :  Seljuk,  576,  577,  600,  601. 

Universities,  rise  of,  586. 

Vandals,  550  note,  551,  552. 

Visigoths,  547  note,  548. 

Waldenses,  589,  614. 

Wallenstein,  622  and  note,  623. 

Western  Empire  falls,  550. 

Westphalia,  Peace  of  (1648),  624. 

William  of  Orange  (the  Silent),  617,  618. 
Wolsey,  Cardinal,  611. 

Worms,  Diet  of,  610. 


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